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THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE 
WAGE-EARNERS 


A  Contribution  toward  the  Solution  of 

THE  Educational  Problem 

OF  Democracy 


BY 


THOMAS    DAVIDSON 

Author  of  "  The  Philosophical  System  of  Antonio  liosmini  Serhati, 

**The  Parthenon  Frieze  and  Other  Essays  "  ^'■Aristotle  and  Ancient 

Educational  Ideals"  "  The  Education  of  the  Greek  People  and 

its  Influence  on  Civilization"  "Jiousseau  and  Education 

according  to  Nature"  '■'■A  History  of  Education,"  etc. 


Edited  with  an  Introductory  Chapter 

BY 

CHARLES   M.  BAKEWELL 


GINN  &  COMPANY 

BOSTON  •  NEW  YORK  •  CHICAGO   •  LONDON 


:iiui 


Copyright,  1904 
By  CHAELES  M.  BAKEWELL 


ALL  EIGHTS  RESERVED 
81^ 


GINN  &  COMPANY  •  CAM- 
BRIDGE -MASSACHUSETTS 


PKEFACE 


This  volume  tells  how  a  few  lectures  that  the  late 
Thomas  Davidson  delivered  before  the  wage-earners  on 
the  East  Side  of  New  York  upon  the  problems  which 
the  Nineteenth  Century  hands  on  to  the  Twentieth  led 
to  the  formation  of  a  class  in  History  and  Social  Sci- 
ence, and  how  this  rapidly  developed  into  an  incipient 
"  Breadwinners'  College,"  and  at  the  same  time  became 
the  center  of  a  general  social  movement  for  the  better- 
ment of  mankind.  It  is  the  story  of  an  experiment  in 
the  education  of  the  wage-earners  which  is  very  far  from 
finished,  the  record  of  a  movement  still  in  process  of 
formation.  It  introduces  nothing  sensational  or  dra- 
matic, offers  no  easy  cure  for  social  ills ;  it  simply  tells 
how  the  efforts  of  one  man  to  find  among  the  wage- 
earners  themselves  the  forces  that  are  tending  toward 
righteousness  and  truth,  and  to  unite  and  direct  these 
to  a  common  educational  and  moral  end,  were  crowned 
with  a  measure  of  success  that  promises  well  for  the  fu- 
ture, and  is  rich  in  suggestions  for  the  social  reformer, 
as  well  as  for  all  who  are  interested  in  educational 
problems. 

Mr.  Davidson,  through  a  combination  of  happy  cir- 
cumstances, opened  up  a  mine  of  enthusiasm  and  of 
power  for  righteousness  and  self-improvement  latent  in 

iii 


IV  PREFACE 

the  hearts  and  minds  of  those  whom  weary  souls  and 
patronizing  reformers  are  wont  to  call  ''life's  disinher- 
ited ones."  And  the  work  that  he  accomplished  is 
unique  among  modern  social  movements  in  that  it  is 
a  growth  almost  wholly  nourished  by  the  inner  vital- 
ity of  the  developing  group.  In  most  of  our  efforts 
to  improve  the  condition  of  the  struggling  and  less 
favored  masses,  the  wealthy  contribute,  but  with  their 
gloves  on,  the  wise  aid,  but  ex  catliedra^  and  with  a 
tinge  of  condescension.  At  best,  noble  and  devoted 
men  and  women,  renouncing  comfort  and  ease,  cast  in 
their  lot  with  the  poor,  and  with  a  fine  sympathy  and 
loyal  devotion  become  their  true  friends  and  inspiring 
companions.  In  so  doing  they  discover  many  practical 
ways  of  introducing  social  reforms,  and  by  carrying 
these  out,  as  well  as  by  their  example,  undoubtedly 
accomplish  much  good.  Yet  few,  if  any,  even  of  these, 
are  aware  of  the  latent  power  in  the  hearts  and  minds 
of  those  whom  they  are  lielping ;  and  none,  so  far  as  I 
am  aware,  have  made  it  their  main  concern  to  find  a 
way  to  seize  upon  this  power  and  to  develop  and  direct 
it  so  that  it  may  do  its  appointed  work,  and  that  every 
individual  as  he  makes  progress  in  his  own  develop- 
ment may  become  forthwith,  according  to  his  lights, 
an  enthusiastic  and  efficient  helper  of  others  still  less 
favored.  Few,  if  any,  have  a  strong  enough  belief  in 
the  intellectual  capacity  of  those  whom  they  are  help- 
ingrto  employ  with  them  the  only  sound  educational 
method,  which  never  attempts  to  make  a  present  of  the 
truth,  but  ever  seeks  to  elicit  it  from  the  self-active 
minds  of  the  taught. 


PREFACE  f^ 

The  agitator  and  the  demagogue,  and  to  some  extent 
even  the  social  reformer,  carry  their  audiences  by  means 
of  flattery,  by  appealing  to  prejudice,  and  by  dealing  in 
vague  and  ambiguous,  if  high-sounding,  phrases.  These 
are  the  means  by  which  the  unenlightened  mind  is  most 
easily  swayed.  We  cannot  hope  to  stem  the  tide  of  error, 
which  these  modern  sophists  cause,  by  persuading  sober- 
minded  scholars  to  give  occasional  lectures  to  the  work- 
ingmen.  The  scholar  scorns  the  sophist's  methods,  and 
so  he  cannot  strike  home  until  much  preliminary  work 
has  been  done  to  lead  the  workingmen  to  that  habit  of 
mind  that  puts  calm,  clear-sighted,  and  unprejudiced 
reason  at  the  helm.  Even  with  those  who  have  had 
the  advantage  of  a  good  common-school  education,  with 
trained  students  in  the  colleges,  nothing  worth  while 
can  be  accomplished  by  lectures  unless  the  student 
follow  them  up  with  hard  and  persistent  intellectual 
effort  of  his  own.  Is  it  not  absurd  to  suppose  that 
those  who  lack  such  training  can  gain  truth  more  easily, 
can  dispense  with  the  hard  and  slow  and  painful  intel- 
lectual discipline  that  is  the  condition  of  all  clear  think- 
ing? Must  we  not  either  frankly  confess  that  the 
great  body  of  workingmen  must  remain  simply  "  the 
masses,"  shut  out  from  the  light  of  truth,  doomed  to 
walk  in  the  darkness  of  confusion  and  prejudice,  swayed 
by  caprice  and  blind  feeling ;  or  else  face  the  stern  fact 
that  there  is  no  royal  road  to  learning  for  them  any 
more  than  for  others,  —  and  then  do  our  duty  by  sup- 
plying a  sound  education  that  shall  be  within  the  reach 
of  all  who  are  capable  and  willing  to  put  forth  the  effort 
necessary  to  win  it? 


vi  .  PREFACE 

Thomas  Davidson  appreciated  these  things,  and  it  is 
this  that  makes  the  record  that  these  pages  contain, 
fragmentary  as  it  is,  worthy  of  the  consideration  of  all 
who  are  interested  in  social  questions,  and  of  all  who 
are  seriously  concerned  for  the  welfare  of  our  country. 

Mr.  Davidson  believed  in  the  workingmen  and  work- 
ingwomen  whom  he  taught.  Many  of  the  things  that 
he  said  to  his  class,  and  to  its  individual  members,  — 
and  illustrations  may  be  found  in  the  letters  printed  in 
this  volume,  —  a  superficial  and  cynical  observer  would 
pronounce  sheer  flattery.  But  they  were  n6t  that.  Mr. 
Davidson  had  a  way  of  seizing  what  was  best  in  his 
friends,  the  ideals  which  in  their  best  moments  they 
longed  to  be,  and  of  naming  them  after  these  and  deal- 
ing with  them  accordingly.  This  is  doubtless  one 
secret  of  his  success :  he  made  the  young  men  and 
young  women  feel  that  the  ideal  which  they  were  to 
live  up  to  was  their  own  ideal,  their  own  truer  selves; 
and  they  were  thus  put  on  their  mettle  to  live  up  to 
his  judgment  of  them.  In  this  way  they  acquired  a 
confidence  in  themselves  born  of  self-respect,  and  at 
the  same  time  became  more  cautious  in  their  judg- 
ments. Much  of  his  success  was  no  doubt  due  to  his 
exceptionally  strong  and  magnetic  personality,  to  his 
generous  enthusiasms,  and  to  his  tireless  and  unbounded 
loyalty  and  devotion  to  his  band  of  wage-earners,  —  for 
he  gave  himself  unsparingly  for  them ;  much,  too,  to  the 
fact  that  he  was  working  mainly  with  Jews,  who,  beyond 
any  other  race,  seem  to  have  a  way  of  keeping  the  inner 
fires  burning  in  spite  of  most  untoward  outer  circum- 
stances.    But  the  main  thing,  after  all,  was  that  he  had 


PREFACE  vn 

discovered  a  way  to  bring  out  and  utilize,  as  the  force 
and  life-blood  of  his  undertaking,  the  energy  that  was 
in  the  wage-earners  themselves  as  organized  and  directed 
by  their  own  highest  ideals.  This  is  the  most  encour- 
aging thing  about  his  work.  If  we  can  only  succeed 
in  this  we  need  not  despair  of  popular  education,  for 
we  shall  at  last  have  found  a  power  adequate  to  the 
great  task. 

I  have  thought  it  best  to  add  an  introductory  ch^ter, 
giving  a  brief  account  of  the  author  and  of  his  demo- 
cratic philosophy.  This,  and  the  following  chapter  on 
"  The  Task  of  the  Twentieth  Century,"  are  reprinted, 
with  the  kind  consent  of  its  editor,  from  The  Interna- 
tional Journal  of  Ethics.  In  the  third  chapter,  which 
discusses  **  The  Educational  Problems  which  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  hands  over  to  the  Twentieth,"  the  idea 
of  a  Breadwinners'  College  is  developed.  This  is  the 
lecture  that  precipitated  the  movement  which  the  next 
chapter,  "  The  History  of  the  Experiment,"  describes. 
This  was  the  last  thing  that  Mr.  Davidson  wrote,  and 
it  was  left  unfinished.  It  is  published  as  he  left  it.  In 
the  fifth  chapter  are  printed  in  full  most  of  the  weekly 
lettei-s  that  Mr.  Davidson  wrote  to  the  central  Saturday 
Evening  Class  during  the  summers  of  1899  and  1900, 
These  show  more  clearly  than  anything  else  could  the 
relation  that  existed  between  him  and  his  pupils,  and 
the  spirit  that  underlay  4iis  work  with  them.  I  have 
added  a  final  chapter,  continuing  Mr.  Davidson's  narra- 
tive from  the  point  where  it  breaks  off,  and  giving  some 
account  of  the  movement  as  it  has  been  carried  on  by 
these  workingmen  and  workingwomen  themselves  in 


viii  .  PREFACE 

the  four  years  that  have  elapsed  since  his  death.  I 
have  to  thank  the  members  of  the  class  for  their  kind 
cooperation  in  supplying  material  for  this  portion  of 
the  book,  and,  especially,  Mr.  Louis  Dublin,  Mr.  S.  E. 
Frank,  and  Mr.  Morris  R.  Cohen.  The  bulk  of  the 
sixth  chapter  is  taken  bodily  from  the  account  sent  me 
by  Mr.  Cohen.  I  wish  also  to  acknowledge  my  indebted- 
ness to  my  friend  Professor  W.  A.  Neilson,  who  has 
kindly  read  most  of  the  book  either  in  manuscript  or 
in  proof,  for  his  valued  advice  and  encouragement. 

In  conclusion  I  would  suggest  that  a  reader  who 
is  desirous  of  coming  without  delay  to  the  story  of 
Mr.  Davidson's  actual  experiment  in  the  education  of 
the  wage-earners  turn  at  once  to  Chapter  IV. 

THE   EDITOR. 
Laurel  Run^  August  5,  1904. 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 
I.   Introductory:  Thomas  Davidson  and  his  Phi- 
losophy.    (By  the  Editor) 1 

II.    The  Task  of  the  Twentieth  Century      .     h^.       24 

III.  The  Educational  Problems  set  by  the  Nine-    i 

teenth  Century  to  the  Twentieth  ....  53 

IV.  The  History  of  the  Experiment 96 

V.    The  Underlying  Spirit  as  shown  by  the  Let- 
ter^ written  by  Mr.  Davidson  to  his  Class  124 

VI.  The  Vitality  of  the  Ideal  as  shown  by  the 
Life  of  the  ^Iovement  after  the  Death  of 
ITS  Founder.     (By  the  Editor) 216 


/ 


THE  EDUCATIOIS^  OF  THE 
WAaE-EAR]N^ERS 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTORY:   THOMAS  DAVIDSON  AND  HIS 
PHILOSOPHY 

By  the  Editor 

When  on  the  14tli  of  September,  1900,  after  an 
unsuccessful  operation,  Thomas  Davidson  died  in  a 
hospital  at  Montreal,  the  world  lost  a  wise  and  good 
man  whose  work  and  influence  were  out  of  all  propor- 
tion to  his  general  reputation.^    A  writer  in  the  London 

1  The  list  of  Mr.  Davidson's  published  hooks  [which  conveys  no 
adequate  impression  of  the  scope  of  his  powers  and  influence]  includes  : 
"  The  Philosophical  System  of  Antonio  Rosmini  Serbati"  (London, 
1882) ;  "The  Parthenon  Frieze  and  Other  Essays"  (Boston  and  New 
York,  1886) ;  "  Scartazzini's  Handbook  to  Dante,  with  Notes  and  Addi- 
tions "  (Boston,  1887) ;  "  Prolegomena  to  Tennyson's  'In  Memoriam ' " 
(Boston,  1889);  "Aristotle  and  Ancient  Educational  Ideals"  (New 
York,  1892) ;  "The  Education  of  the  Greek  People,  and  its  Influence  on 
Civilization"  (New  York,  1894);  "Rousseau  and  Education  accord- 
ing to  Nature  "  (New  York,  1898) ;  "  A  History  of  Education  "  (New 
York,  1900).  He  contributed  to  Mind,  The  Philosophical  Review,  The 
International  Journal  of  Ethics,  The  Journal  of  Speculative  Philosophy, 
The  Educational  Eeview,  The  Forum,  and  other  periodicals,  numerous 
articles  and  reviews.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  engaged  upon 
a  history  of  Scholastic  Philosophy  in  which  he  proposed  to  gather  up 
the  results  of  his  lifelong  study  in  this  field.  Unfortunately  but  two 
chapters  had  been  completed. 

1 


2  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EAllNERS 

Spectator  recently  declared  that  at  the  time  of  his  death 
Thomas  Davidson  was  one  of  the  twelve  most  learned 
men  in  the  world.  How  that  may  be  I  do  not  know. 
Certain  it  is  that  his  profound  and  varied  learning,  his 
portentous  memory,  his  skill  in  using  all  languages,  and 
his  familiarity  with  the  best  that  is  to  be  found  in  all 
languages  —  particularly  in  the  lines  of  philosophy,  social 
science,  and  literature  —  were  to  those  of  us  younger 
men  who  came  to  know  him  almost  appalling.  He  was 
learned,  and  knew  that  he  was  learned,  above  the  meas- 
ure even  for  learned  men.  Yet  withal  he  was  modest, 
avoiding  rather  than  courting  personal  fame.  Indeed, 
he  might  in  truth  have  said,  with  Thomas  Aquinas, 
that  his  motto  was  amo  nesciri. 

With  all  his  learning  Mr.  Davidson  was,  however, 
the  most  human  of  fnen,  approachable  by  all,  old  and 
young,  high  and  low,  learned  and  ignorant;  generous 
to  a  degree  in  his  relations  with  his  fellow-men,  giving 
of  himself  without  stint  to  all  who  sought  his  help  or 
counsel  whenever  he  thought  he  could  be  of  any  use  to 
them  in  helping  them  to  a  higher  life.  An  Adirondack 
farmer,  whose  place  he  had  bought,  once  remarked  of 
him  that  his  hand  was  stretched  out  to  meet  you 
farther  away  than  that  of  any  man  he  ever  knew. 
This  was  true,  literally  as  well  as  figuratively.  Any 
one  who  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  visit  him  in  his 
Adirondack  home,  where  he  conducted  a  summer  school 
of  the  culture  sciences,  will  ever  remember  with  the 
glow  of  a  larger  human  kindliness  his  reception  at 
Glenmore.  It  was  Mr.  Davidson's  custom  to  have  the 
large  lecture-hall  bell  rung  to  announce  the  arrival  of 


THOMAS  DAVIDSON  AND  HIS  PHILOSOPHY         3 

an  expected  guest.  At  that  signal  he  would  at  once 
drop  all  work  and  hasten  down  from  his  den  in  the 
birch  grove  some  two  hundred  feet  above  the  main 
buildings.  I  can  see  him  now  hurrying  down  the  hill, 
his  right  hand  stretched  out  to  greet  me  when  still  a 
good  fifty  yards  away,  his  left  waving  his  tam-o'-shan- 
ter as  he  shouts  his  cheery  welcome.  The  warm  hand- 
shake that  followed,  the  sincere  welcome  beaming  from 
every  feature  of  his  honest,  earnest,  sunny,  intelligent 
face,  made  one  feel  at  once  that  Glenmore  was  home. 

Mr.  Davidson  was  the  most  intense  man  I  have  ever 
known,  intense  in  his  loves  and  in  his  hates,  both  for 
persons  and  for  doctrines.  It  was  part  of  his  philosophy 
that  morality  consisted,  as  the  Greeks  had  said,  in 
knowing  how  rightly  to  love  and  how  rightly  to  hate, 
and,  he  would  have  added,  in  having  abundant  affec- 
tions to  distribute.  He  firmly  believed  that  the  stronger 
a  man's  passions  the  greater  were  his  possibilities 
for  virtue  and  victory,  if  only  they  could  be  rightly 
directed.  Rousseau  once  wrote,  "  II  n'y  a  que  les  dmes 
de  feu  qui  sachent  vaincre.^''  Mr.  Davidson  was  one  of 
those  dmes  de  feu^  and  he  held  himself  in  check  by 
an  iron  will,  and  knew  how  to  conquer.  No  obstacles 
were  for  him  insurmountable.  Finding  in  the  course 
of  some  of  his  investigations  in  Scholastic  Philosophy 
that  he  needed  a  more  thorough  acquaintance  with 
Arabic  than  he  could  acquire  from  the  books,  he 
dropped  all  other  work  and  went  to  Cairo  to  live  with 
the  Arabs,  that  he  might  learn  to  speak  their  tongue. 
He  was  then  just  fifty-four  years  of  age.  His  last  pub- 
lished book  was  written  at  a  time  when  he  was  unable 


4  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNEKS 

to  get  more  than  three  consecutive  hours  of  sleep,  and 
^  when  every  waking  moment  was  filled  with  intense 
j  pain.  Yet  his  cheerful  but  profound  optimism  finds  in 
this  book  perhaps  its  noblest  expression,  and  not  once 
does  his  personal  suffering  break  through  to  color  a 
single  phrase. 

Mr.  Davidson  was  absolutely  unsparing  of  himself 
and  of  his  friends,  downright  and  straightforward  and 
uncompromising.  He  could  never  quite  forgive  a  man 
who  had  once  told  him  a  lie  or  proved  himself  ungen- 
erous. He  was  ever  bitter  in  his  denunciation  of  all 
forms  of  pharisaism  and  of  the  pride  of  mere  respect- 
ability, which  consisted,  he  held,  solely  of  negative 
virtues.  Comfort  worshipers,  sensuous  dalliant  souls, 
and  all  time-servers  were  his  special  aversion.  But  a 
keen  sense  of  humor,  a  hearty,  jovial  nature,  and  a  broad 
philosophy  saved  him  from  the  snares  of  asceticism  and 
left  him,  with  all  his  vigorous  and  uncompromising 
standards,  one  of  the  most  sociable  of  men.  He  always 
sought  out  in  all  men  traces  of  genuine  human  worth, 
and  he  knew  how  to  look  behind  appearances  for  the 
real  substance  of  worth.  Consequently  his  friends  were 
frequently  of  rough  exterior  and  rougher  manner,  and 
he  was  often  found  with  publicans  and  sinners.  And 
to  his  friends  he  remained  ever  loyal. 
'  Mr.  Davidson  was  born  in  Aberdeenshire,  Scotland, 
October  25,  1840.  He  received  his  education  in  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  town,  and  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Aberdeen,  where  he  acquired,  as  a  second  nature, 
the  habit  of  exact  scholarship.  What  this  training 
meant  for  him  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  he 


'  THOMAS  DAVIDSON  AND  HIS  PHILOSOPHY        5 

used  to  say,  with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  school  sys- 
tems of  all  lands,  that  if  he  had  to  be  educated  over 
again  and  could  choose  his  schools  and  masters,  he 
would  go  through  precisely  the  same  training  that  he 
had  enjoyed.  When  still  a  very  young  man  he  came 
to  America  and,  after  a  brief  sojourn  in  Canada,  made 
his  way  to  Boston.  Later  he  removed  to  St.  Louis, 
where  he  taught  for  a  time  in  the  public  schools  and 
where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  famous  little 
group  of  St.  Louis  philosophers,  most  of  whom  became 
his  life  friends.  But  Mr.  Davidson  was  a  bom  dissenter 
who  could  not  and  would  not  fit  into  any  niche.  He 
chafed  under  all  restraint,  and  was  not  entirely  contented 
until  he  finally  found  his  liberty  in  the  life  of  a  free 
lance,  lecturing,  writing,  teaching  private  classes,  and 
in  this  way  earning  his  modest  livelihood  while  hold- 
ing himself  responsible  to  himself  alone  and  to  his  own 
lofty  ideals.  Opportunities  for  university  preferment 
came,  but  he  refused  to  surrender  one  jot  of  his  free- 
dom. His  mode  of  life  gave  him  a  good  six  months 
of  every  year  for  leisurely  study  and  frequent  opportu- 
nities for  long  visits  to  Europe,  as  his  studies  might 
call  for  learning  that  could  there  best  be  pursued. 
Besides,  he  had  a  decided  distrust  of  our  universities, 
which,  he  held,  were  still  suffering  from  medisevalism 
in  methods  and  habits,  from  formalism,  and  from  an 
absence  of  entire  freedom  and  candor.  Moreover^Tie 
did  not  regard  the  students  in  the  universities  to-day 
as  the  most  promising  material  to  work  with,  hold- 
ing that  most  of  them  were  under  the  dominion  of 
purely  frivolous  aims,  and  that  even  of  the  more  serious 


6  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

I 

i 

students  the  majority  were  animated  by  no  higher  motive 
.  than  the  desire  to  fit  themselves  to  find  a  comfortable 

,  berth  for  life.  In  few,  if  any,  could  he  find  an  ardent 
desire  for  knowledge  for  its  own  sake  and  for  the  sake 
of  the  light  it  could  throw  on  the  purpose  and  meaning 
of  life.     Only  in  the  last  years  of  his  life  did  he  succeed 

^  in  finding  a  class  of  students  with  whom  he  could  work 
with  entire  satisfaction  and  enthusiasm.  When  he  did 
find  them,  with  characteristic  fervor  he  gave  the  best 
of  himself  and  of  his  time  and  energy  in  working  for 
and  with  them,  asking  no  other  compensation  for  his 
services  than  honest  and  faithful  work  on  the  part  of 
his  students.  These  were  the  students  he  found  amongst 
the  breadwinners  in  the  East  Side  of  New  York.  After 
working  with  them  for  two  years  he  wrote :  *'  No  one 
who  has  ever  taught  a  class  of  intelligent  breadwinners 
will  return  willingly  to  academic  teaching.  It  would 
be  well  if  all  college  students  were  engaged  in  the 
practical  duties  of  life."  Of  this  work,  which  at  last 
put  his  democratic  philosophy  to  the  test  of  practice, 
this  book  is  the  partial  record.  Before  passing  on  to 
this  record,  let  us  consider  briefly  the  philosophical 
attitude  upon  which  that  work  was  founded. 

We  cannot  better  approach  the  study  of  Mr.  David- 
son's philosophy  than  by  noting  in  advance  the  tem- 
per of  its  author's  mind  as  it  revealed  itself  in  strong 
antipathies  to  some  of  the  more  popular  currents  of 
contemporary  thought.     Hegel,  with  his  denial  of  the 

^  principle  of  contradiction,  he  held  to  be  the  *'  prince  of 
confusionists."  Historically,  Hegel's  philosophy  seemed 
to  him  mainly  significant  as  the  reductio  ad  absurdum 


THOMAS  DAVIDSON  AND  HIS  PHILOSOPHY        7 

of  modern  subjectivism,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  modern 
effort  to  define  the  forms  of  thought  so  exhaustively 
that  nothing  is  left  for  the  material  of  thought.  At 
the  same  time,  however,  he  held  that  Kant  had  rendered 
inestimable  service  in  pointing  out  that  the  real  mean-** 
ing  of  Hume's  skepticism  was  that  it  had  conclusively 
proved  that  the  mind  is  essentially  active  and  therefore 
does  not  receive  any  ready-made  impressions,  but  exer- 
cises from  the  first  a  determining  power  in  the  very 
creation  of  the  world  that  it  knows  ;  that,  consequently, 
no  concepts  taken  either  from  common  sense  or  from 
time-hallowed  philosophies  can  be  accepted  without 
being  subjected  to  the  most  careful  scrutiny.  Hegel, 
however,  had  too  easily  concluded,  from  finding  the 
importance  of  the  part  played  by  the  thinking  activity, 
that  thought  was  the  last  term  in  the  description  of 
reality,  and  so  his  philosophy  gave  us  a  cobweb  world, 
an  arid  and  unreal  system  which,  logically  carried  out, 
could  but  lead  to  pantheism,  from  which  disastrous 
result  it  was  saved  in  the  letter  but  not  in  truth  by 
Hegel's  skill  in  juggling  with  such  terms  as  freedom, 
God,  Trinity,  and  the  like,  wherein  was  displayed  his 
ingenuity  in  pouring  new  wine  into  old  bottles  rather 
than  his  zeal  in  the  cause  of  truth. 

The  agnostic's  position  came  in  for  equal  condemna- 
tion. His  whole  difficulty  comes  from  the  fact  that  he 
starts  out  with  a  supernaturalistic  notion  of  reality, 
with  a  conception,  that  is,  of  the  absolutely  real  as, 
whatever  else  it  may  possibly  be,  never  a  possible 
object  of  experience.  The  agnostic's  conclusion,  there- 
fore, that  reality  is  unknowable,  is  a  trivial  one,  or,  to 


8  EDUCATION  OF   THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

put  it  otherwise,  is  simply  another  way  of  stating  his 
fundamental  premise,  which  premise,  in  its  turn,  is  a 
downright  prejudice. 

Those  who  gloried  in  the  confusion  of  philosophies 
and  philosophers,  in  order  that  they  might  point  a 
moral  as  to  the  presumption  and  imbecility  of  mere 
reason,  whether  their  Pyrrhonism  were  proclaimed  in 
the  interest  of  piety,  as  a  preparation  for  faith,  or  in 
the  interest  of  a  supposed  freedom  that  could  not 
brook  even  the  constraint  of  reason,  or  in  the  interest 
of  a  nature  worship  like  that  which  found  expression 
in  Rousseau  in  some  of  his  more  turgid  moods,  and 
frequently  in  Wordsworth  in  such  passages  as  — 

One  impulse  from^a  vernal  wood 

May  teach  you  more  of  man, 
Of  moral  evil  and  of  good, 

Than  all  the  sages  can, 

—  in  short,  the  defenders  of  all  forms  of  mere  senti- 
mentalism  and  irrationalism  were  treated  continually 
and  effectually  with  the  scorn  that  they  deserve. 
After  all,  there  is  no  blasphemy  worse  than  that  which 
spends  itself  in  dragging  in  the  mire  the  noblest  faculty 
with  which  man  is  endowed,  the  faculty  which  distin- 
guishes him  from  the  animals  and  enables  him  to  lead 
a  moral  life.  Not  that  the  doctrine  to  which  one  must 
give  adherence  is  a  "  cold  intellectualism,"  as  it  is  called. 
No,  the  knowledge  that  is  the  aim  of  our  rational 
endeavor  is,  as  Mr.  Davidson  once  wrote,  "  knowledge 
armed  with  moral  efficiency,  knowledge  which  com- 
mands respect  and  reverent  submission.  .  .  .     What 


THOMAS  DAVIDSON  AND  HIS  PHILOSOPHY        9 

turns  intellect  into  a  spring  of  action  and  freedom  is 
not  its  power  of  distinguishing  things,  but  its  power 
of  seeing  that  things  have  different  values,  that  one 
thing  is  better  than  another,  and,  therefore,  to  be  pre- 
ferred to  another.  .  .  .  This  is  what  is  meant  by  the 
old  saying  that  not  only  the  thoughts  of  the  head  but 
the  thoughts  of  the  heart  also  must  be  pure."  ^ 

Perhaps  of  all  the  irrationalists,  the  philistine  misolo- 
gists,  the  conventionally  respectable  men  who  are  supe- 
rior to  philosophy,  seemed  to  him  the  most  immoral 
and  pernicious  influence  of  the  time,  —  the  men  who 
contemptuously  deny  "that  every  man  and  woman 
ought  to  be  a  philosopher." 

So  much  does  the  old  habit  of  authority  and  convention  in 
matters  of  intelligence  and  morals  still  prevail,  so  much  are  men 
still  the  slaves  of  these,  that  philosophy,  which  alone  can  make 
men  free,  is  still  looked  upon  with  suspicion  and  ill-concealed 
contempt.  One  continually  hears,  "  But  you  can't  expect  every 
man  to  be  a  philosopher.  It  takes  a  long  time  to  learn  philos- 
ophy, and  people  generally  have  other  things  to  attend  to.  They 
must  sow  and  reap,  buy  and  sell,  eat  and  drink,  and  they  must 
have  a  good  time.  Philosophy  is  dull,  solemn  business."  The 
implication,  of  course,  is  that  sowing  and  reaping,  buying  and 
selling,  and  so  on,  are  more  important  things  than  philosophy, 
and  this,  indeed,  is  what  the  world  of  our  time  practically  believes. 
The  general  belief  is  that  the  end  of  life  is  to  acquire  material 
wealth  and  have  a  "  good  time,"  which  means  to  satisfy  the  nat- 
ural inclinations,  which  our  education  accordingly  fosters  and 
pampers.  I  say  this  is  the  result  of  a  failure  to  recognize  that 
the  aim  of  man's  life  is  man's  perfection,  and  that  perfection 
consists  in  perfect  insight,  perfect  love,  and  perfect  freedom.     As 

1  "  Intellectual  Piety,"  pp.  4,  5.  (An  address  published  separately 
in  pamphlet  form.) 


10  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNEES 

soon  as  men  see  this  clearly  they  will  no  longer  look  down  upon 
philosophy,  which  is  but  another  name  for  loving  insight,  one  of 
the  essential  elements  in  human  perfection.  To  despise  philos- 
ophy is  to  despise  spiritual  perfection,  for  clear  knowledge  is  one 
of  the  elements  of  that  perfection.  There  is  no  duty  more  incum- 
bent upon  any  human  being  than  to  know,  unless  it  be  the  duty* 
of  loving  with  divine  love  everything  known,  in  proportion  to  its 
worth,  and  sternly  refusing  to  be  guided  by  personal  feelings  and 
inclinations.  A  man  or  woman  who  is  not  a  profound  thinker, 
seeing  the  things  of  the  world  in  their  true  ideal  proportions, 
and  acting  accordingly,  is  a  mere  dependent,  half -enslaved  crea- 
ture, whatever  amount  of  so-called  culture,  refinement,  and  kind- 
ness he  or  she  may  have.  Such  a  person  is  still  a  slave  to 
authority  and  convention,  a  mere  play  actor  in  life,  bound  to 
play  a  traditional,  unreal  part,  without  any  of  the  glorious  liberty 
of  the  children  of  God,  of  them  who  see  the  Divine  face  to  face, 
and,  in  the  light  thereof,  all  things  in  their  true  worth. i 

We  are  dealing,  it  is  plain,  with  the  philosophy  of  a 
man  who  has  banished  entirely  from  his  world  things- 
in-themselves  and  unknowables,  and,  therefore,  material- 
ism, supernaturalism,  and  all  other  forms  of  agnosticism, 
but  who  at  the  same  time  believes  that  modern  idealisms, 
by  singling  out  one  aspect  of  experience,  namely  the 
formal  or  universal  aspect,  and  regarding  it  exclusively, 
have  thereby  started  upon  a  path  that  cannot  but  lead, 
when  logically  carried  out,  to  pantheism  and  the  evil 

*-type  of  mysticism. 

We  can  now  easily  conclude  this  preliminary  orienta- 
tion of  Mr.  Davidson's  philosophy  by  the  mere  enumer- 

I  ation  of  the  objects  of  his  special  admiration.     These 
were  JEschylus,  Socrates,  Aristotle,  Joachim  of  Flores, 

[  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  Dante,  Kant  (with  reservations), 

1  Op.  cit. 


THOMAS  DAVIDSON  AND  HIS  PHILOSOPHY      11 

Rosmini,  Goethe  (especially  the  "Faust"),  and  Tennyson 
(especially  "  In  Memoriam  ").  And  of  all  these  undoubt- 
edly the  first  place  was  held  by  Socrates,  the  genuinely 
religious  dissenter,  the  confident  believer  in  human 
reason  and  almost  the  only  true  individualist ;  the  man 
who,  moreover,  justified  in  his  life  as  well  as  in  his 
philosophy  his  claim  to  our  reverence  for  these  things. 
One  more  thing  must  be  borne  in  mind  in  our  effort 
to  understand  this  philosophy,  and  that  is  the  predom- 
inance of  the  practical  interest  throughout  its  author's^ 
life.  He  comes  to  his  theoretical  speculations  because 
of  vital  practical  needs,  as  could  not  but  be  the  case 
with  one  of  his  intense  temperament  and  strict  Pres- 
byterian upbringing.  But  he  was  a  born  dissenter,  and 
he  firmly  believed  that  the  times  were  religiously  and 
socially  out  of  joint,  and  that  it  was  his  duty,  as  it  was 
that  of  every  man,  to  do  his  best  to  set  them  right. 
With  this  end  in  view  he  took  an  active  interest  in  the  . 
founding  of  the  London  Fabian  Society.  The  name  of 
the  society  is  significant.  Its  determined  aim  was  the 
gathering  and  disseminating  of  information  that  might 
lead  to  the  amelioration  of  social  conditions,  but  it  was 
to  be  committed  to  no  theory  in  advance.  Later,  as  the 
organization  drifted  toward  outright  socialism,  Mr.  David- 
son lost  interest  in  it.  Socialism  seemed  to  him  to  be  , 
indeed  the  logical  enough  outcome  of  the  view  of  life 
that  places  its  highest  values  upon  wealth,  position,  and 
physical  comfort ;  which  is,  however,  a  complete  inver- 
sion of  true  values.  Having  its  aim  centered  in  these 
external  goods,  a  reform  that  looks  to  them  primarily 
must  be  mechanical  and  cramping  to  the  life  of  the 


12  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

spirit.  He  saw,  in  other  words,  with  profound  truth  that 
In  social  reform  the  end  to  begin  with  is  always  the  indi- 
vidual, and,  in  the  individual,  his  education ;  that,  fur- 
thermore, the  aim  of  this  education  should  be  to  help  its 
possessor  to  estimate  things  more  nearly  at  their  true 
worth  and  to  give  him  the  strength  to  rise  above  the  rule 
of  animality  and  rightly  distribute  his  affections. 

Mr.  Davidson  also  founded  the  Fellowship  of  the 
>y  New  Life,  first  in  London,  afterward  in  New  York. 
This  society  was  organized  for  mutual  help  in  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  life  of  the  spirit,  for  mutual  aid  in  the 
discovery  of  real  values,  and  in  living  accordingly.  It 
was  not  a  church,  not  even  a  Unitarian  Church,  for  it 
had  not  the  vestige  of  a  creed,  unless,  indeed,  it  is  hav- 
ing a  creed  to  maintain  that  there  is  a  higher  life  for 
man  and  that  it  behooves  him  earnestly  to  seek  to  know 
what  that  life  is  and  then  to  lead  it.  This  organization 
V  might  be  called  a  sort  of  Fabian  Society  of  the  Spirit. 
The  difficulty  with  a  society  of  this  character  is  that  it 
is  apt  to  degenerate  into  sentimentalism,  "  to  mistake  " 
(in  the  strong  language  of  a  recent  German  writer)  "  fine 
feelings  for  argument,  and  the  expanded  bosom  for  the 
bellows  of  divinity."  Therefore  it,  too,  soon  proved  un- 
satisfactory, and  both  of  these  practical  efforts  toward 
.  reform  convinced  Mr.  Davidson  that  the  one  thing  need- 
ful above  all  else  in  our  day  is  a  definite  gospel  that 
rests  upon,  and  needs,  no  authority  save  the  approval 
of  individual  reason,  a  gospel  that  must  therefore  also 
be  a  philosophy. 

Such  a  philosophy  Mr.  Davidson  believed  he  had 
found  through  his  fortunate  discovery  of  Rosmini.    It 


THOMAS  DAVIDSON  AND  HIS  PHILOSOPHY      13 

was  a  doctrine  of  radical,  uncompromising  individualism 
that  was  only  saved  from  the  chaos  of  atomism  by 
including  the  belief  in  the  absolute,  divine,  eternal  worth 
of  every  member  of  the  commonwealth  of  humanity. 
So  intent  was  he  upon  saving  his  doctrine  from  any 
swamping  monism  that  he  insisted  upon  calling  his 
view  apeirotheism.  Certainly  there  was  no  room  in  his 
philosophy  for  a  God  who  works  by  special  providence, 
or  distributes  rewards  and  punishments.  "  The  God 
of  the  future,"  he  writes,  "  the  just  God,  gives  to  each 
one  precisely  what  with  his  own  efforts  he  has  right- 
eously won,  neither  more  nor  less.  The  man  who  asks 
for  more  is  a  miserable  dependant,  sycophant,  and  beg- 
gar; the  man  who  is  content  with  less  is  a  fool."  ^ 

The  method  whereby  it  was  sought  to  establish  this 
philosophy  was  the  epistemological  method.  Every  one 
who  has  studied  the  course  of  philosophy  at  all  knows 
that  always  after  the  zeal  of  the  first  efforts  has  led  to 
the  facile  construction  of  some  system  or  other  a  rival 
view  inevitably  looms  up  that  seems  to  have  quite  as 
strong  a  claim  as  the  first,  and  yet  contradicts  it.  So 
the  two  doctrines  consume  each  other,  and  a  period  of 
doubt  and  skepticism  supervenes.  From  the  moment 
this  stage  is  reached  one  can  only  make  his  escape  from 
the  intellectual  slough  of  despond  by  asking,  as  a  prior 
question  in  one's  philosophy,  what  is  knowledge,  and  how 
do  we  come  by  it?  Yet  what  one  finds  written  in  the 
history  of  philosophy  is  also  always  this:  that,  when 
this  question  is  raised,  forthwith  it  is  assumed  that  two 
antithetical  terms  are  somehow  immediately  given,  and 

1  Op.  cit. 


14  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

that  knowledge  consists  in  bringing  these  two  terms  to 
unite ;  but  as  these  terms  are  always  taken  to  be  mutu- 
ally exclusive,  philosophies  are  hard  put  to  it  to  effect 
the  union.  These  antithetical  terms  are,  to  take  the 
most  common  instances,  the  fixed  and  the  fleeting,  sub- 
ject and  object,  the  universal  and  the  particular,  appear- 
ance and  reality,  reason  and  sense,  mind  and  matter, 
sensitive  tablet  and  external  things.  And  the  puzzle 
of  knowledge  is  to  get  one  of  each  of  these  pairs  at  its 
opposite.  It  is  generally  assumed  that  if  only,  by  some 
sort  of  philosophical  alchemy,  one  can  transfuse  these 
incompatibles,  or  forcibly  collocate  them,  the  problem 
of  knowledge  is  solved.  If  this  cannot  be  done,  then 
one  of  the  opposites  is  usually  discarded  in  favor  of  the 
other.  Now  it  is  obvious  that  we  should  not  begin  with 
these  terms,  as  if  they  themselves  required  no  further 
scrutiny.  We  must  begin  by  analyzing  the  act  of  cog- 
nition and  the  act  of  perception  as  they  really  appear 
in  immediate  experience,  and  not  as  they  are  interpreted 
by  a  ready-made  theory,  such  as  is  implied  in  the  very 
statement  of  the  problem  as  it  usually  appears.  Bacon 
said  that  our  duty  as  scientists  is  to  interpret  nature 
and  not  to  anticipate  it.  As  philosophers,  our  task  is 
to  interpret  experience  and  not  to  anticipate  it. 

The  result  that  is  reached  by  this  method  I  can  best 
give  in  Mr.  Davidson's  own  words : 

Instead  of  saying,  as  has  been  said  heretofore,  that  the  world 
starts  with  an  inscrutable  God,  inscrutable  atoms,  or  an  inscruta- 
ble ether,  not  one  of  which  can  identify  itself  with  our  intelligence 
and  so  be  known,  our  theory  says  that  the  world  consists  of  a 
multitude  of  sentient  individuals  or  atoms,  whose  unity  is  their 


THOMAS  DAVIDSON  AND  HIS  PHILOSOPHY      15 

sentience,  and  that  these  are  essentially  related  to  each  other 
through  desire.  Sentience  and  desire  are  two  aspects  of  the  same 
fundamental  fact.  There  is  no  desire  without  sentience  and  no 
sentience  without  desire.  .  .  .  Matter  itself,  so  far  as  we  could 
know  it,  would  have  to  be  groups  of  feelings.  .  .  .  The  only- 
possible  completely  intelligible  and  moral  world  is  a  world  com- 
posed of  essentially  distinct  feelings  or  sentiences  .  .  • .  inter- 
related through  action  and  passion,  two  forms  of  feeling,  and  yet 
fundamentally  impenetrable  to  each  other.  And,  indeed,  this  is 
the  world  that  we  really  find  ourselves  in,  or  in  ourselves.  I  can 
feel  your  action  and  you  can  feel  mine ;  but  my  feeling,  or  the 
feeling  which  I  am,  is  utterly  opaque  to  you,  and  the  feeling  which 
you  are  to  me.  I  can  learn  that  you  have  the  toothache  and  even 
understand  it,  if  I  have  had  one  as  a  modification  of  my  own  feel- 
ing ;  but  I  can  never  feel  the  toothache  which  you  feel.  As  sen- 
tient and  desiring  subjects  we  are  absolutely  impenetrable  to  each 
other,  and,  in  so  far,  we  are  hypotheses  to  each  other.  That  is 
the  price  we  pay  for  being  realities,  eternal  realities,  if  you  will. 
If  you  coidd  feel  my  feelings  we  should  be  merged  into  one  and 
both  cease  to  be  individuals.  This  does  not  lead  to  agnosticism, 
as  might  seem  at  first  sight.  There  is  nothing  in  you  that  I  may 
not  know  if  you  choose  to  be  communicative ;  but  your  feelings  I 
can  never  feel.  So  far,  happily,  we  must  be  eternally  agnostics. 
That  is  the  price  we  pay  for  being  anything  at  all.^ 

Or  consider,  again,  this  statement: 

Each  has  only  to  ask  himself.  What  do  I  know  myself  to  be  ? 
And  if  he  answers  honestly  he  will,  I  think,  say  :  "  I  am  a  feeling 
or  sensibility,  modified  in  innumerable  ways  by  influences  which 
I  do  not  originate.  These  modifications,  when  grouped,  are  what 
I  call  the  world,  or  my  world,  for  I  know  no  other.  I  am  the  sen- 
tient unity  of  a  sensible  world."  2 

1  ''American  Democracy  as  a  Religion,"  in  International  Journal 
of  Ethics,  Vol.  X,  pp.  30  ff. 

2  "Education  as  World  Building,"  in  Educational  Review  for 
November,  1900,  p.  327. 


16  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

Just  as  Schopenhauer  had  tried  to  escape  from  the 
consequences  of  the  omnivorous  thought  principle, 
upon  which  the  German  philosophy  that  preceded  him 
had  rested,  by  emphasis  upon  the  will,  so  Mr.  Davidson 
tries  to  avoid  the  pantheism  of  both  of  these  philoso- 
phies by  making  feeling  the  fundamental  fact  in  expe- 
rience. Now,  this  is  just  where  one  naturally  seeks  to 
lay  the  emphasis  if  one  is  intensely  interested  in  devel- 
oping a  pluralistic  philosophy,  for  it  is  as  feeling  that 
we  are  directly  shut  within  our  own  worlds,  and  shut 
out  from  the  worlds  of  other  individuals. 

This  doctrine,  moreover,  in  two  ways  seeks  to  ward 
off  the  charge  of  mere  subjectivism:  (1)  In  accepting 
as  a  fact  the  action,  through  desire,  of  one  individual 
upon  another,  —  an  obvious  faet^  but  one  which  most 
idealisms  have  difficulty  in  adjusting  to  their  systems. 
(2)  In  making  room  for  a  moral  ideal.  Life  and  edu- 
cation consist  in  world  building,  in  ordering,  classifying, 
grouping  our  sensations,  and  hypostasizing  them.  "But 
there  are  worlds  and  worlds.  Since  the  human  being 
is  a  sentient  desire,  which  from  its  very  nature  demands 
the  highest  and  most  varied  satisfaction,  the  aim  of 
education  must  be  to  enable  him  to  construct  a  world 
capable  of  yielding  such  satisfaction.  .  .  .  The  extent 
and  richness  of  the  world  which  any  living  being  con- 
structs depends  upon  two  things:  its  capacity  for  mani-,' 
fold  experience,  and  its  power  of  arranging  or  classifying 
that  experience.  The  former  of  these,  again,  depends 
upon  the  number  and  acuteness  of  the  senses;  the  lat- 
ter upon  the  force  of  the  primitive  desire  for  satisfac- 
tion. .  .  .     Ethical  life  depends  upon  the  completeness 


THOMAS  DAVIDSON  AND  HIS  PHILOSOPHY      17 

and  harmony  of  the  world  evolved  in  the  individual 
consciousness."  ^  A  moral  world  would  be  one  in  which 
objects  were  stamped  with  their  value  for  the  satisfaction 
of  desire,  and  loved  and  made  motives  for  the  will,  in 
accordance  with  that  stamping.  The  spring  of  all  wrong- 
doing is,  as  JEschylus  said,  false  coinage,  irapaKoird. 
Some  worlds  are  small  but  well  ordered,  the  world  of 
the  ordinary  respectable  citizen  ;  some  small  and  ill 
ordered,  the  world  of  the  parasite  and  ordinary  criminal ; 
some  large  and  well  ordered,  the  world  of  the  saints, 
heroes,  benefactors  of  humanity,  thinkers,  statesmen,  and 
reformers,  the  introducers  of  ideals;  some  large  but  ill 
ordered,  the  world  of  the  Macbeths  and  Napoleons,  the 
great  reprobates  and  criminals.  Some  worlds  again  are 
rigidly  bounded,  the  worlds  of  the  narrow  conservative, 
"old  fogy,"  or  of  the  fanatic  of  one  idea;  others  are 
continually  expanding,  the  worlds  of  the  liberal  and  the 
reformer.  The  pessimist  is  simply  the  man  who  con- 
tinually fails  to  organize  a  world  satisfactory  to  his 
desires,  and  who  proclaims  himself  a  failure  in  world 
building.^ 

To  students  of  philosophy  the  view  as  thus  stated 
will  indeed  suggest  many  doubts  and  queries.  One 
will  point  out  that  this  extreme  emphasis  of  feeling, 
apparently  at  the  expense  of  intellect  and  will,  would 
completely  shut  the  individual  into  his  own  private 
world,  and,  indeed,  into  the  experience,  if  experience  it 
could  be  called,  of  the  present  fleeting  moment, — such 
expressions  as  "  eternal  feelings "  being  contradictions 
in  terms,  —  and  that  we  should  thus  be  involved  in  a 

1  Op.  cit. 


18  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EAENERS 

most  hopeless  form  of  agnosticism.  Another  will  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  striking  resemblance 
between  this  doctrine  and  that  of  John  Stuart  Mill, 
with  which  Mr.  Davidson  elsewhere  expresses  his  most 
emphatic  disagreement;  for,  in  speaking  of  "feelings 
grouping  themselves,"  one  seems  to  be  gliding  over 
the  difficulties  involved,  even  as  Mill  does  with  his 
"permanent  possibilities  of  sensation";  and  this  gra- 
dation of  values  here  set  up  as  objectively  valid  is,  after 
all,  left  vouched  for  merely  by  the  individual  subjective 
verdict  of  the  man  who  has  experienced  the  various 
forms  of  life,  even  as  Mill  would  establish  a  gradation 
in  the  quality  values  of  pleasures  by  the  immediate 
affirmation  of  the  man  who  has  tried  the  different  kinds. 
These  and  similar  doubts  that  might  be  raised  have  not, 
I  believe,  been  fully  considered.  I  mention  them  not 
to  refute  them,  nor  yet  in  criticism  of  this  philosophy, 
but  rather  to  call  attention  to  Mr,  Davidson's  manner, 
more  like  that  of  the  poet  than  the  philosopher,  of  pre- 
senting in  strong  relief  that  particular  aspect  of  a  situ- 
ation that,  for  the  time  being,  absorbed  his  interest. 
Such  unity  as  the  view  possesses  is  to  be  sought  mainly 
in  the  large  and  rich  personality  of  the  man,  by  holding 
together  the  different  expressions  of  his  different  moods. 
And,  in  spite  of  the  attempt  to  work  out  this  philosophy 
through  epistemological  considerations  and  the  analysis 
of  experience,  it  was  established  in  his  own  mind  mainly 
by  the  results  of  his  long  and  thorough  study  of  soci- 
ology and  of  the  history  of  civilization.  The  single 
thread  of  meaning  that  to  him  seemed  to  run  through  the 
drama  of  history  was  the  independence  of  the  individual. 


THOMAS  DAVIDSON  AND  HIS  PHILOSOPHY      19 

The  struggle  of  the  ages  points  to  the  establishment  of 
the  individual  in  all  his  unique  integrity  as  completely 
self-dependent,  the  master  of  circumstances  and  of  his 
own  fate,  neither  the  creature  of  things  nor  yet  the 
creature  of  an  all-inclusive  God-consciousness.  And  the 
emphasis  of  the  part  played  by  feeling  is  due  to  a  desire 
to  emphasize  this  independence,  even  to  the  point  of 
isolating  the  single  self  in  a  solipsistic  world.^ 

The    pluralistic    philosophy    which    Mr.    Davidson 
reached,  a  brief  and  summary  statement  of  whicli  wer 
now  have  before  us,  he  held  to  be  the  genuine  philos-1 
ophy  of  democracy,  since  it  recognizes  the  individual  ] 
as  the  source  of  all  authority,  and  at  the  same  time  | 
regards  every  individual  as  anijnated  by  a  desire  that 
is  in  truth  nothing  less  than  a  desire  for  the  highest,  and 
as  capable  therefore  of  realizing  for  himself  the  highest  / 

1  Amongst  Mr.  Davidson's  published  writings  the  one  that  throws 
most  light  upon  his  general  philosophical  standpoint  is  the  article  on 
"Perception,"  which  he  contributed  to  Mind,  Vol.  VII  (1884),  at  the 
tirae  when  the  influence  of  Rosmini  was  particularly  strong.  The  fact 
in  experience  which  he  then  wished  to  emphasize  was  Being.  This  he 
thought  Hegel,  and  indeed  all  idealists,  spirited  away  by  regarding  it 
exclusively  in  its  aspect  as  definitely  universalized  in  thought.  Thus 
Being  evanished  into  a  category ;  the  quod  cognoscimus  was  taken  up 
into,  and  consumed  by,  the  quo  cognoscimus.  In  the  latest  formula- 
tions of  his  philosophy  we  find  that  the  term  "being"  has  given  place 
to  the  phrases  "fundamental  feelings,"  or  "substantial  feelings," 
together  with  "desire  "  — the  active  aspect  of  feeling.  The  transition 
is  easily  understood.  Being  that  is  not  even  conceivably  exhaustible 
in  thinking,  if  it  is  not  to  vanish  in  the  opposite  direction  into  a  mere 
unknowable  substratum  of  experience,  must  find  its  meaning  in  expe- 
rience, and,  when  we  turn  to  experience,  that  which  is  there  imme- 
diately given  as  real  is  just  feeling.  It  should  be  added  that  Rosmini 
almost  suggests  this  transition.  The  phrase  "fundamental  feeling" 
is  his. 


20  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

satisfaction.  Two  things  follow  as  a  necessary  con- 
sequence from  this  teaching:  (1)  It  should  be  possible 
for  every  individual  to  share  in  the  inheritance  of  the 
ages,  in  all,  that  is,  that  the  ages  have  produced  that 
is  of  real  soul-satisfying  worth,  in  the  highest  culture 
of  the  time.  And  fortunately  there  is  enougli  of  these 
blessings  to  go  around,  for  these  are  just  the  things 
that,  as  Mr.  Davidson  used  to  say,  can  be  multiplied 
indefinitely  without  being  divided.  (2)  It  should  be 
the  duty  and  privilege  of  every  more  favored  individual 
to  labor  without  ceasing  in  order  that  he  may  help  his 
fellow-men  into  their  inheritance.  And  such  help  con- 
sists not  merely  in  giving  them  knowledge  and  culture, 
and  helping  them  rightly  to  distribute  values,  but  also 
in  helping  to  make  them  more  efficient  and  competent 
craftsmen.  The  latter  work  can  only  be  undertaken 
by  such  institutions  as  the  famous  London  Polytechnic, 
but  every  citizen  can  do  his  share  in  the  former. 

Mr.  Davidson  accordingly  spent  his  life  in  the  effort 
to  uplift  men  by  supplying  a  sound,  aimful  education. 
To  him  the  world  seemed  "  sadly  unspiritual,  sadly  nar- 
row, ignorant,  and  frivolous.  It  has  lost  the  light  of 
reason,  and  is  running  after  vain  shadows."  Animated 
'throughout  his  career  by, a  profound  missionary  zeal,  he 
early  determined  to  do  his  share  in  making  the  world 
spiritual  again.  His  efforts,  alone  and  unaided,  to  accom- 
plish this  work  were  very  far  from  satisfying  him,  and 
he  went  through  life  hunting  for  kindred  souls,  dream- 
ing of  the  establishment  of  a  sort  of  Pythagorean  broth- 
erhood of  the  spirit,  a  community  where  the  actual 
daily  life  should  be  a  practical  object  lesson  in  the  right 


THOMAS  DAVIDSON  AND  HIS  PHILOSOPHY      21 

adjustment  of  social  relations.  Indeed,  the  dominant  aim 
of  his  life  might  be  summed  up  in  the  words  in  which  he 
described  the  purposes  of  one  of  the  organizations  that 
he  effected  with  that  end  in  view :  (1)  ''  To  bring  men 
together  who  really  and  in  all  earnestness  desire  to  com- . 
prehend  the  world,  in  order  that  they  may  better  it,  and/ 
who  are  ready  to  consider  all  questions  without  preju- 
dice or  respect  for  current  and  conventional  opinions  or 
authority."  (2)  "  To  disseminate  in  every  way,  by  teach- 
ing, lecturing,  printing,  and  especially  by  living^  intel- 
lectual and  moral  truth,  and  to  put  a  period  to  living  by. 
mere  conventionality  and  uncomprehended  dogma." 

None  of  these  undertakings  proved  entirely  satisfac- 
tory, and  it  was  only  toward  the  end  of  his  life  that, 
almost  by  chance,  he  stumbled  upon  the  opportunity 
to  carry  on  this  work  in  a  way  that  seemed  to  him 
altogether  encouraging. 

In  the  fall  of  1898  he  lectured  in  the  Educational 
Alliance  of  New  York  City  to  a  large  audience  composed 
mainly  of  hard-driven  laboring  men  and  women  from  the 
East  Side,  upon  "  Problems  which  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury hands  on  to  the  Twentieth."  At  the  conclusion 
of  the  lecture  one  man  arose  and  objected  that  it  was 
all  very  well  to  talk  about  profiting  by  the  culture  of 
the  ages,  but,  as  for  them,  they  were  ground  in  the  dust 
and  had  no  opportunity.  With  characteristic  impet- 
uosity Mr.  Davidson  exclaimed  that  it  was  not  so ;  that 
they  had  all  the  opportunity  they  deserved;  that,  if 
they  only  wanted  these  things  badly  enough,  they  could 
get  them.  "  For  instance,"  said  he,  ''  if  you  will  form 
a  class,  and  fall  to  work  in  dead  earnest,  I  will  come 


22  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

down  and  meet  you  once  a  week  and  teach  you."  A 
larg-e  number  signified  their  eagerness  to  undertake  the 
work,  a  class  was  formed  which  soon  numbered  several 
hundred  men  and  women,  and  Mr.  Davidson,  always 
better  than  his  word,  went  down  twice  a  week,  meeting, 
on  his  second  visit,  a  class  of  those  who  were  particularly 
interested  in  philosophy.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
movement  that  the  present  volume  describes. 

What  Mr.  Davidson  accomplished  with  these  men  and 
women,  and  how  he  accomplished  it,  forms  an  interesting 
and  significant  chapter  in  the  history  of  modern  efforts 
for  the  uplifting  of  mankind. 

At  the  first  meetings  of  the  class  doctrinaire  socialists, 
steeped  in  the  theories  of  Marx,  were  very  much  in  evi- 
dence ;  but,  under  the  Socratic  cross-questioning  of  their 
teacher,  they  were  soon  put  to  confusion  and,  by  com- 
mon consent,  it  was  agreed  that  the  discussion  of  these 
most  difficult  and  complex  social  questions  should  be 
deferred  for  some  years,  until  they  had  acquired  a  broader 
knowledge  of  the  history  and  meaning  of  civilization  and 
of  the  culture  which  it  had  produced. 

In  this  band  of  intensely  eager  and  earnest  minds 
Mr.  Davidson  felt  that  at  last  he  had  found  his  family, 
and  the  work  with  them  inspired  him  with  a  new  hope 
for  the  future,  a  hope  which  he  has  voiced  in  the  con- 
cluding chapter  of  his  last  published  work : 

If  the  teachers  of  the  nation,  with  a  due  sense  of  their  power 
and  importance,  would,  without  hope  or  desire  for  material  reward, 
form  themselves  into  an  association  for  the  higher  education  of 
the  breadwinners,  as  the  teachers  of  France  are  doing,  and  each 
devote  a  couple  of  evenings  a  week  to  the  work,  they  would  soon 


THOMAS  DAVIDSON  AND  HIS  PHILOSOPHY      23 

elevate  the  culture  of  JJie-whola  people,  and  remove  theVorst  dan- 
gers that  threaten  society.  Poverty,  vice,  and  degradation  would, 
iu  large  measure,  disappear,  giving  place  to  well-being,  virtue,  and 
nobility.  There  is  no  more  patriotic  work  than  this ;  for  it  is  not 
amid  the  thunder  of  the  battlefield,  where  men  slay  their  fellow- 
men,  that  the  noblest  civic  laurels  are  won,  but  in  the  quiet  school- 
room, where  devoted  patriots,  men  and  women,  combine  to  slay 
misery,  meanness,  and  corruption.^ 

1  "A  History  of  Education,"  p.  276. 


X 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  TASK  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  ^ 

The  task  of  the  ages  —  if,  believing  in  evolution,  we 
admit  that  they  have  any  task  —  is  the  realization  of 
self-conscious  personalities,  freely  related  to  each  other 
through  the  three  attributes,  knowledge,  discriminat- 
ing affection,  and  originative  will.  Such  personalities 
alone  can  be  true  ends,  since  they  alone  have  value  on 
their  own  account. 

This  task,  though  it  can  obviously  have  neither 
beginning  nor  end,  is  worked  out  through  a  progress 
marked  by  epochs,  each  of  which  has  its  own  appointed 
share,  so  to  speak,  in  the  whole.  These  epochs  having 
no  clear  lines  of  demarcation,  it  is  customary  to  identify 
them  with  centuries,  and  to  ask  what  forms  of  progress 
have  marked  each  particular  century  —  century  being 
a  perfectly  arbitrary  division  of  time. 

With  a  view  to  determining  the  task  of  the  twentieth 
century,  it  would  be  well  if  we  should  trace  as  far  back 
as  possible  the  whole  course  of  human  development  (for 
each  part  receives  the  meaning  from  the  whole) ;  but 
as  space  forbids  this,  we  must  be  content  to  gain  what 

1  An  address  to  the  Educational  Alliance  of  New  York,  delivered, 
from  rough  notes,  in  1898,  and  afterward  written  out  for  the  Society 
for  Ethical  Culture  of  Pliiladelphia.  Published  in  the  International 
Journal  of  Ethics,  October,  1901. 

21 


TASK  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  25 

light  we  can  by  going  back  for  a  few  centuries,  say  to 
the  close  of  the  Middle  Age. 

The  task  of  that  age  may  be  stated  in  a  few  words. 
It  consisted  in  keeping  steadily  before  each  individual 
soul  the  fact  of  its  own  eternity  and  impressing  upon 
it  that  its  weal  or  woe,  throughout  that  eternity, 
depended  upon  its  pursuing  a  definite  course  of  con- 
duct. So  far,  nothing  could  have  been  better.  But, 
unfortunately,  —  though,  as  we  may  well  believe,  neces- 
sarily, —  these  things  were  presented  in  an  external, 
dramatic  way,  as  arbitrary  revelations  from  an  external 
God,  and  backed  by  such  awesome  sanctions  as  made  the 
soul  feel  itself  a  mere  helpless  worm  of  the  dust  in  the 
presence  of  an  irresponsible  omnipotence.  It  felt  that 
its  eternity  was  a  mere  gift  of  grace  or  charity,  utterly 
capricious,  because  utterly  undeserved  (the  saints  vied 
with  one  another  in  magnifying  their  own  unworthi- 
ness !),  while  its  conduct  was  determined  by  external 
laws,  supported  by  a  system  of  purely  arbitrary  rewards 
and  punishments,  such  as  made  obedience  a  mere  matter 
of  slavish,  selfish  prudence,  however  it  might  cloak  itself 
as  love  to  the  lawgiver.  In  one  word,  human  life  in 
this  age  was  entirely  regulated  by  authority,  which, 
though  it  might  produce  a  certain  amount  of  socially 
desirable  conduct,  as  even  the  poorest  of  motives  such 
as  fear  or  avarice  may,  rendered  all  true  morality,  which 
depends  upon  a  free,  rational  determination  of  the  will, 
utterly  impossible.  The  excuse  for  such  authority  was 
the  fantastic  belief  that  human  nature,  as  such,  was 
utterly  fallen,  degraded,  and  incapable  of  self-direction  ; 
that,  hence,  if  ever  it  was  to  reach  its  true  end,  it  must 


26  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

entirely  submit  itself,  ut  cadaver^  to  external  guidance, 
that  is,  authority,  or  direct  inspiration.  This  attitude 
of  mind  is  admirably  expressed  in  a  hymn  still  much 
and  reverently  sung  in  our  churches : 

Direct,  control,  suggest  this  day, 
All  I  design,  or  do,  or  say. 
That  all  my  powers  and  all  my  might 
In  Thy  full  glory  may  unite. 

This  is,  of  course,  a  complete  abdication  of  self-guidance, 
an  appeal  to  God  to  be  moral  for  us  —  that  we  may 
glorify  Him! 

In  a  system  which  accepted  authority  as  the  guide  of 
life,  on  pain  of  damnation,  there  was,  of  course,  no  room 
for  freedom  of  any  sort,  freedom  of  thought,  freedom 
of  affection,  or  freedom  of  will.  And,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  all  these  forms  of  freedom  were,  as  far  as  possible, 
rigorously  suppressed.  Free  inquiry  into  the  laws  and 
nature  of  the  world  gave  way  to  a  timid,  scholastic 
discussion  of  the  meaning  of  authority.  The  natural 
affections,  though  they  could  not  be  entirely  disowned, 
were  grudgingly  admitted  to  a  place  in  life,  and  even 
as  late  as  the  Council  of  Trent,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
an  anathema  was  pronounced  upon  any  one  who  should 
say  that  the  state  of  virginity  and  celibacy  was  not 
better  than  the  state  of  matrimony.  And  this  is  to-day 
the  position  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Above 
all,  free  self-determination  of  the  will,  possible  only 
through  free  inquiry  and  free  affection,  was  placed 
under  the  ban.  The  mediaeval  church,  in  part  directly, 
in  part  indirectly  through  the  state,  sought  to  regulate 


TASK  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  27 

every  thought,  feeling,  word,  and  deed  of  its  members, 
and  of  all  whom  it  claimed  as  such.  When  it  was 
resisted,  it  shrank  from  no  extremes. 

The  task  of  the  centuries  since  the  close  of  the 
Middle  Age  has  been,  gradually  to  remove  this  yoke 
of  authority,  and  to  raise  men  to  freedom  of  thought, 
affection,  and  will  —  in  a  word,  to  rational  self -guidance, 
or  moral  life.  This  has  been  done,  partly  through  actual 
resistance  to  authority,  a  resistance  necessitated  by  social 
suffering,  and  partly  through  discoveries  in  the  worlds 
of  nature,  history,  and  philosophy. 

The  sixteenth  century  was  marked  by  great  advances 
in  all  directions.  The  discovery  of  America,  the  proof 
positive  of  the  earth's  rotundity,  and  the  Copernican 
astronomy  utterly  broke  up  the  mediaeval  view  of  the 
universe,  the  science  of  astrology,  and  the  astronomical 
ethics  depending  on  both,  and  thus  freed  men  from  a 
whole  load  of  ignorance  and  superstition  in  matters 
physical  and  moral.  At  the  same  time,  the  Reforma- 
tion among  the  Germanic  nations  freed  northern  Europe 
from  papal  authority,  and  introduced  the  principle  of  free 
inquiry  (without,  indeed,  recognizing  its  full  import), 
while  the  Pagan  Renaissance  among  the  Latin  peoples 
went  far  to  free  the  south  from  that  nature-distorting 
asceticism  to  which  much  of  the  church's  authority  was 
due,  and  to  make  the  perfection  of  human  nature,  instead 
of  the  glory  of  God,  the  end  of  human  activity.  Under 
the  influence  of  both  these  movements,  education  of  a 
human  sort  spread  rapidly,  art  revived,  and  the  human 
mind  advanced  toward  autonomy.  The  full  significance 
of  these  advances  was,  however,  yet  to  be  discovered. 


28  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

The  seventeenth  century  is,  unlike  the  sixteenth, 
which  had  been  largely  a  period  of  destruction  in 
matters  spiritual,  a  period  of  reconstruction.  Not  only 
are  the  old  sciences  and  philosophies  put  aside,  but  new 
sciences  and  new  philosophies  spring  up  to  take  their 
place.  And,  strange  to  say,  these  new  sciences  and 
philosophies  are  all  animated  by  a  common  spirit  utterly 
different  from  that  of  the  Middle  Age.  Just  at  the  time 
when  the  earth,  man's  abode,  ceased  to  be  regarded  as 
the  center  of  the  physical  universe,  man  himself  came 
to  be  regarded  as  the  center  of  the  spiritual  universe. 
It  is  this  fact  that  makes  the  modern  world,  as  distin- 
guished from  the  ancient  and  mediaeval.  Though  the 
meaning  of  this  fact  has  been  but  slowly  coming  to  con- 
sciousness, it  is  now  obvious  enough  to  any  one  who 
cares  to  think.  It  is  this:  whereas  in  the  older  world 
all  truth  was  tried  by  an  external  authority,  supposed 
to  be  revealed,  and  human  reason  was  relegated  to  a 
thrall's  place;  in  the  modern  world,  human  reason  is 
elevated  to  the  first  place,  and  all  authority,  nay,  even 
the  existence  of  God  himself,  has  to  come  before  its 
tribunal,  and  accept  its  verdict.  Thus,  truth  is  no 
longer  dependent  upon  authority  but  authority  upon 
truth.  If  God  cannot  prove  His  existence  and  author- 
ity to  human  reason,  then  reason  —  man  —  will  have 
none  of  them.  It  would  be  impossible  to  overstate  the 
momentousness  of  this  change.  It  is  not  only  a  change 
from  authority  to  truth,  and  from  faith  to  science; 
it  is  a  change  from  moral  servitude  to  moral  freedom. 
For  man  is  free  only  when  reason  is  the  ultimate  court 
of  appeal. 


TASK  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  29 

This  great  change  is  due  mainly  to  two  men  —  the 
English  Protestant  Locke,  and  the  French  Catholic 
Descartes ;  but  we  find  it  in  earlier  writers  —  in 
Hooker  and  Hobbes,  for  example.  Both  these  latter 
writers  place  the  origin  and,  therefore,  the  authority  of 
human  society  in  a  social  contract,  and  not  in  divine 
appointment,  and  are  thus  the  parents  of  Rousseau  and 
the  French  Revolution.  Locke  and  Descartes,  working 
on  different  lines,  came  practically  to  the  same  conclu- 
sion, namely,  that  in  the  human  consciousness  lie  the 
test  and  reality  of  all  truth,  and,  therefore,  of  all  life 
guidance.  From  them  comes  all  modern  thought,  in  all 
its  different  phases,  from  the  crassest  materialism  to 
the  flimsiest  idealism.  To  the  seventeenth  century 
belong  Leibniz  and  Spinoza,  Newton  and  Galileo,  Vico 
and  Grotius  —  hence  the  beginnings  of  modern  science 
in  all  its  branches.  To  it  also  belong  the  first  effective 
movements  toward  what  may  be  called  individualism, 
which  was  destined  to  play  such  a  part  in  the  subse- 
quent world.  They  take  their  rise  in  Holland,  England, 
Scotland,  and  find  their  overt  expression  in  the  three 
great  anthropocentric  movements  of  the  century,  the 
two  English  revolutions  and  the  foundation  of  a  new 
order  of  things,  whose  very  essence  is  individualism,  in 
the  newly  discovered  continent  beyond  the  Western 
Sea.  In  all  these  changes  men  are  more  or  less  blindly 
asserting  their  moral  rights,  their  right  to  freedom  of 
action,  guided  by  free  reason  and  free  affection.  If  the 
sixteenth  century  saw  the  collapse  of  external  spiritual 
authority  and  the  rise  of  rationalism,  the  seventeenth 
saw  the  collapse  of  external  temporal  authority  and  the 


80  EDUCATION  OF   THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

rise  of  individualism,  backed  too  by  a  philosophy  which 
showed  it  to  be  rational  and  practicable. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  the  movements  of  the  two 
previous  centuries  toward  freedom  of  thought  and  indi- 
vidualism in  life  were  carried  to  extremes,  and  a  new 
movement  begun,  what  may  be  called  the  movement 
toward  economic  freedom.  It  is  par  excellence  the  cen- 
tury of  down-breaking  in  all  the  spheres  of  life  and 
thought.  Voltaire  overthrew  thrones  with  a  jest,  and 
made  belief  in  revealed  authority  forever  impossible ; 
Rousseau  discarded  all  conventionalities  and  external 
repressive  institutions,  called  for  a  return  to  nature, 
and  made  subjective  sentiment  the  rule  of  life  —  indi- 
vidualism with  a  vengeance !  Hume,  the  friend  of  Rous- 
seau, supplied  a  philosophy  for  all  this  by  reducing  all 
thought  to  clusters  of  impressions  and  ideas,  and  defy- 
ing these  to  get  beyond  themselves  either  to  a  world  of 
objects,  or  to  a  subject.  Kant,  accepting  this  result, 
showed  how  the  world  that  we  know,  subjects  and  all, 
can  be  built  up  of  these  clusters,  provided  we  bring 
out  all  that  is  implicit  in  them.  Goethe,  with  Titanic 
nature,  showed  that  man  works  out  his  own  destiny  by 
casting  off  his  limitations  and  rising  to  spiritual  freedom 
among  free  men  —  that,  as  Tennyson  puts  it,  "man  is 
man  and  master  of  his  fate."  Lastly,  Adam  Smith, 
devoting  himself  to  a  sphere  of  human  action  which 
thinking  men  had  too  long  affected  to  despise,  de- 
manded freedom  in  the  economic  world,  asserted  that 
the  shackles  should  be  struck  from  the  hands  of  labor, 
and  that  complete  freedom  of  production  and  trade 
should  be  permitted,  —  laissez  faire,  laissez  passer, — 


TASK  OF  THE   TWENTIETH  CENTURY  31 

insisting,  with  perfect  truth,  that  freedom  of  subsistence 
is  the  condition  of  all  other  freedom.  Meanwhile,  indi- 
vidualism, the  demand  of  the  individual  for  recognition 
as  an  absolute  end,  found  public  utterance  in  the  two 
great  events  of  the  century,  the  American  and  French 
Revolutions,  in  which  men  boldly  declared  that  they 
were  the  lords,  not  the  slaves  or  tools  of  institutions,  and 
that  any  institution  or  law  which  they  could  or  would 
acknowledge,  on  pain  of  denying  their  manhood,  must 
be  the  expression  of  their  own  reason,  a  means  toward 
the  attainment  of  their  own  ends  as  spiritual  beings. 

Such,  after  three  hundred  years  of  heroic  toil  and 
martyrdom,  was  the  condition  of  things  at  the  opening 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  One  would  be  glad  to  be 
able  to  say  that  all  the  movements  toward  freedom, 
begun  and  carried  on  in  those  years,  were  continued, 
without  interruption,  till  the  present  day.  Some  of 
them  have,  indeed,  been  so,  and  new  ones  have  been 
initiated;  but  others  have  suffered  a  setback  and  a 
reaction.  This  was,  perhaps,  inevitable,  and  is  due  to 
the  fact  that,  in  the  transition  from  a  theological, 
theocentric,  and  supernatural  view  of  the  world,  to  a 
scientific,  anthropocentric,  and  natural  one,  and  in  the 
hand-to-hand  struggle  for  individual  liberty,  two  things 
dear  to  the  human  heart  and  essential  to  its  peace  were 
lost,  to  a  large  extent:  (1)  the  sense  of  personal  eter- 
nity and  immortality,  and  those  hopes  that  go  with  it  — 
things  which  had  for  so  long  rested  upon  a  supernatural 
basis,  and  seemed  to  vanish  when  this  was  withdrawn ; 
(2)  that  settled  and  fixed  condition  of  society  which  had 
been  attained  under  monarchic  institutions,  and  which 


32  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

had  been  greatly  disturbed  by  the  inroads  of  individ- 
ualism, especially  by  that  great  explosion  thereof,  the 
French  Revolution.  The  consequence  was  that,  early 
in  the  century  there  set  in  a  strong  reaction  against 
individualism,  both  in  thought  and  practice,  a  reaction 
in  favor  of  faith  and  supernaturalism,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  of  monarchy  and  despotism,  on  the  other.  In  the 
Latin  countries  of  Europe  this  took  the  form  of  a  senti- 
mental neo-Catholicism,  whose  hierophants  were  men 
like  Bonnet,  de  Maistre,  Chateaubriand,  and  of  the 
Napoleonic  empire  succeeded  by  the  restoration  of 
royalty.  In  the  Germanic  countries,  and  in  Russia, 
it  produced  various  philosophies  whose  aim  was  to 
make  the  old  supernatural  religion  palatable  to  awak- 
ened reason,  and  at  the  same  time  strengthen  the 
hands  of  monarchies,  ultimately  developing  some  of 
them  into  empires,  e.g.^  Germany.  America  was  not 
sensibly  affected  by  any  of  these  things,  except  by 
some  of  the  reactionary  philosophies  —  Scottish  Reid- 
•ism  and  German  Hegelianism.  The  former,  by  depre- 
ciating human  reason  which  seemed  to  have  led  to 
Hume's  skeptical  results,  found  what  seemed  a  vacancy 
left  for  revelation,  whose  content,  in  some  form,  human 
nature  appeared  to  demand ;  and  the  result  was  eagerly 
seized  upon  by  the  friends  of  orthodoxy,  so  that  not 
only  in  Great  Britain,  but  also  in  America,  the  Scottish 
Philosophy  became  very  widely  popular.  The  latter, 
which  frankly  called  itself  a  restoration-philosophy,  by 
a  firework  of  dialectics  and  an  impudent  distortion  of 
the  facts  of  history,  undertook  to  show  that  Christian- 
ity, or  that   fairy  changeling  which   it  chose  to  call 


TASK  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY     33 

Christianity  (for  it  had  made  away  with  the  real  thing), 
was  the  absolute  religion;  and  this  again  has  been 
believed  by  many  champions  of  orthodoxy  both  in 
churches  and  universities.  Hegelianism  undertook, 
further,  to  show  that  the  Prussian  military  state,  of 
which,  as  professor  in  Berlin,  Hegel  was  an  official, 
was  the  ideal  form  of  government,  and  belief  in  this 
has,  in  no  small  degree,  contributed  to  the  building  up 
of  the  German  despotic  empire.  All  this  the  restora- 
tion-philosophy accomplished  at  a  heavy  expense  —  the 
expense  of  human  individuality,  human  freedom,  human 
immortality,  and  even  of  God.  Hegelianism,  whatever 
its  author  and  disciples  may  say,  knows  none  of  these 
things,  being  only  a  framework  of  logical  categories. 
It  has  been  a  great  instrument  of  reaction,  not  merely 
in  philosophy  and  politics,  but  also,  and  still  more  so, 
in  economics ;  for  socialism,  which  is  a  mere  return  to 
feudal  economics,  is  simply  Hegelianism  in  economics. 
Marx  merely  substituted  for  Hegel's  dialectic  process 
the  process  of  economic  production.  But  it  must  be 
admitted  that,  besides  the  reactionary  philosophy  of 
Hegel,  socialism  has  another  root  in  the  economic  con- 
ditions of  the  time,  which  themselves  are  a  result  of 
advancing  science.  The  application  of  discoveries  in 
physics  to  machinery  for  production,  transport,  and 
communication  has  brought  about,  in  the  economic 
world  of  the  century,  a  condition  of  things  for  which 
the  old  economic  theories  offer  no  guide,  a  series  of 
problems  for  which  they  contain  no  solution.  The 
workman  no  longer  owns  his  tools,  as  in  former  days, 
and  thus  becomes  inevitably  in  large  measure  the  slave 


B4  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

of  the  man  who  does.  At  the  same  time  it  has  become 
possible  for  all  the  world  to  compete  with  all  the  world, 
and  since,  all  other  things  being  equal,  the  successful 
competitor  is  he  who  can  obtain  his  products  at  the 
lowest  wages,  there  is  a  continual  tendency  to  make 
wages  lower  and  lower  till  they  reach  the  starvation 
point.  Of  the  various  attempts  to  remedy  these  two 
evils  none  can  be  said  to  have  proved  entirely  success- 
ful, not  even  trades  unions  or  labor  unions.  The  owners 
of  the  instruments  of  production  are  still  able  to  exer- 
cise a  certain  amount  of  tyranny  over  the  workingmen, 
while  the  latter  still  lead  a  precarious  life,  and  are,  in 
many  cases,  subject  to  dire  poverty  and  suffering.  Here 
socialism  steps  in  and  says  it  can  solve  both  difficulties. 
It  calls  upon  the  state  to  deprive  the  employers  of  labor 
of  the  instruments  of  production,  and  so  become  itself 
the  employer  of  labor,  in  which  case,  the  entire  working 
class,  to  Avhich  then  almost  everybody  would  belong, 
would  become  state  officials,  and  have  their  wages  reg- 
ulated equitably  (so  it  is  believed)  by  the  state.  In 
this  way,  economic  tyranny,  competition,  and  poverty 
would  cease,  and  the  result  would  be  a  "cooperative 
commonwealth,"  a  blessed  Utopia.  The  propounders 
of  this  scheme  —  mostly  persons  to  whom  true  liberty 
does  not  seem  dear  —  fail  to  see  that,  even  if  poverty 
could  in  this  way  be  made  to  cease  (and  that  is  avow- 
edly their  chief  object),  it  would  be  at  the  expense  of 
some  of  the  noblest  privileges  of  the  race,  —  of  personal 
liberty,  enterprise,  and  initiative,  —  and  that  it  could 
hardly  fail  to  be  fatal  to  all  the  higher  manifestations 
of  intellect  and  affection,  —  to  philosophy,  science,  art, 


TASK  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  35 

and  literature.  At  all  events,  socialism  is  distinctly 
a  reactionary  movement,  of  the  same  nature  as  despo- 
tism in  politics,  and  ecclesiastical  authority  in  thought. 
In  all  these  there  is  a  retrogression  from  free  variety 
in  harmony  to  dead  monotony  in  authority. 

But  in  spite  of  all  these  reactionary  movements,  from 
which  we  are  still  sadly  suffering,  in  both  thought  and 
life,  the  nineteenth  century  has  been  marked  by  great 
and  manifold  progress  toward  freedom,  in  many  and 
many  directions.  In  the  economic  world,  despite  all 
drawbacks,  the  working  class  is  in  every  way  better  off 
than  it  was  a  century  ago,  and  has  more  opportunity 
and  taste  for  culture ;  the  power  and  tyranny  of  capital 
has  been  curbed  and  regulated.  In  the  political  sphere, 
slavery  has  been  abolished  in  all  civilized  countries,  and 
thus  the  dignity  of  the  individual  spirit,  as  an  end  in 
itself,  universally  acknowledged.  France  has  returned 
to  republicanism ;  England  and  Italy  have  become  dis- 
tinctly democratic ;  the  United  States  has  been  con- 
firmed in  its  devotion  to  freedom ;  a  strong  movement 
is  at  work  in  favor  of  suffrage  and  political  power  for 
women.  Everywhere  the  reluctance  to  go  to  war  is 
growing.  In  the  religious  world  greater  advance  has 
been  made  toward  toleration  and  freedom  of  thought 
than  in  any  period  in  the  world's  history.  Persecution 
for  opinion's  sake  is  rapidly  becoming  a  thing  of  the 
past.  Philosophy,  science,  historic  research,  and  liter- 
ary criticism  have  combined  to  assault  the  gloomy 
Bastile  of  supernaturalism,  and  it  is  now  as  good  as 
leveled  to  the  ground,  albeit  the  news  of  that  fact, 
with  all  our  newspapers,  does  not  spread  very  rapidly. 


36  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

More  and  more,  religion  has  come  to  mean  a  rational 
ethical  life  suitable  to  the  nature  of  free  spirits 
Education  has  increased  and  spread  as  never  before 
illiteracy  is  rapidly  disappearing.  Even  our  univer- 
sities, half  mediaeval,  half  ecclesiastical  as,  for  the  most 
part,  they  still  are,  have  made  considerable  advance 
in  adapting  their  instruction  to  the  needs  of  modern 
life,  and  contributing  their  mite  to  the  cause  of  freedom. 
Their  number,  too,  especially  in  this  country,  has  enor- 
mously increased.  Of  progress  in  the  arts  and  sciences 
one  can  only  say  that  it  has  been  greater  in  this  century 
than  in  all  the  other  known  centuries  put  together.  It 
would  be  well  if  the  same  could  be  said  of  the  science 
of  sciences  —  philosophy.  But  alas  I  it  "cannot.  Phi- 
losophy since  Kant  left  it  has  rather  gone  backwards 
than  forwards,  wandering  off  either  into  a  crude  mate- 
rialism or  an  empty,  merely  formal  idealism.  At  pres- 
ent it  has  come  almost  to  a  standstill,  ashamed  to  go 
back  openly  to  the  absurdities  of  the  old  theology  and 
afraid  to  go  forward  to  pure  science  destitute  of  theol- 
ogy. It  is  in  a  sore  strait,  and  this  largely  owing  to 
the  fact  that  its  professors  mostly  occupy  paid  posi- 
tions in  unemancipated  colleges  and  universities.  There 
are  hardly  any  free  lances  in  thought  nowadays,  any 
Brunos,  Spinozas,  Schopenhauers.  Yet  there  are  not 
wanting  signs  of  better  things.  Biology,  physiology, 
and  psychology,  which  at  present  try  to  usurp  the  field 
of  philosophy,  may  justify  themselves  by  asserting,  as 
they  may  with  truth,  that  they  are  preparing  the  mate- 
rial for  a  truer  system  of  philosophy  than  any  that 
ever  before  appeared.     If  philosophy  is  the  unification 


TASK  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  37 

by  reason  of  the  world  presented  to  it  in  conscious- 
ness, then  every  fresh  discovery  in  science,  every  gap 
lied  in  that  world,  is  an  advance  toward  a  complete 
philosophy. 

We  stand  now  at  the  opening  of  a  century,  looking 
backward  with  mingled  joy  and  regret,  and  forward 
with  mingled  hope  and  anxiety.  What  has  been  done 
in  the  past  centuries  we  have  glanced  at  and  tried  to 
estimate ;  what  remains  to  be  done,  that  can  be  done, 
in  that  which  is  approaching,  we  must  now  consider. 
That  is  its  task.  And  we  may  say  at  once  that,  since 
the  task  of  all  the  centuries  is  to  raise  mankind,  every 
member  of  it,  to  complete  and  actual  moral  freedom, 
which  rests  upon  insight,  just  affection,  and  strong 
will,  realizing  themselves  in  a  social  order,  the  task  of 
the  twentieth  is  to  perform  its  share  in  that.  And  it 
can  do  this  only  by  carrying  on  those  movements 
toward  moral  freedom  which  were  set  afoot  in  the 
past,  and  doing  its  best  to  crush  out  all  reactionary 
movements  toward  unfreedom  spiritual  or  temporal. 

And,  first  and  foremost,  it  must  begin  with  a  rejuve- 
nated philosophy.  Starting  from  the  basis  of  Kant-,  from 
whom,  barring  a  few  inconsistencies,  there  is  no  getting 
away,  avoiding  the  mistakes  and  misrepresentations  of 
his  more  famous  followers,  and  taking  advantage  of  all 
that  has  been  revealed  by  the  sciences  of  evolution,  in 
nature  and  culture,  it  must  seek  to  unify  the  world  in 
the  only  way  possible  —  through  the  unity  of  the  human 
spirit  —  without  assuming  any  other  principle  of  unity, 
God,  nature,  or  the  like.  If  such  exist,  that  will  appear 
in  the  process  of  unification. 


38  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

The  new  philosophy  will,  of  necessity,  be  an  endeavor 
to  account  for  the  world  as  the  evolution  of  conscious- 
ness and  its  content,  or,  more  strictly,  of  the  world  as 
the  content  of  a  consciousness  ;  for  such  is  the  only  world 
we  can  speak  of  or  know.  In  truth,  if  we  consider  care- 
fully, we  shall  see  that  the  world  is  nothing  more  than 
a  complex  of  feelings  grouped  and  distinguished  in  time 
and  space  with  reference  to  the  satisfaction  of  desire. 
If  we  ask  how  it  has  been  evolved,  and  what  is  its  mov- 
ing principle,  we  shall  be  compelled  to  say  that  it  is  due 
to  desire,  the  only  prime  mover  conceivable,  seeking  its 
own  satisfaction.  Desire  is  the  Absolute,  the  primal 
fact  in  the  universe,  the  principle  that  accounts  for  the 
whole.  Considering  further,  we  shall  come  to  see  that 
such  an  Absolute  implies  a  number  of  individuals,  mon- 
ads of  desire,  incommunicable,  and  therefore  indestruc- 
tible, each  seeking  satisfaction  through  all  the  rest,  and 
in  so  doing,  evolving  the  physical  world,  which  is  the 
result  of  manifold  desires  seeking  satisfaction  through 
mutual  aid.  Nay,  we  may  go  further,  and  show  that 
the  moral  world,  with  all  its  institutions,  —  a  world 
which  it  has  been  customary  to  set  over  against  the 
physical,  as  governed  by  entirely  different  principles,  — 
is  evolved  by  a  continuation  of  the  same  process,  and 
that  there  is  no  break  or  gulf  between  them.  We  shall 
then  recognize  that  morality  itself  is  nothing  more  than 
the  effort  to  satisfy  to  the  full  the  desire  that  we,  each  of 
us,  have ;  and  since  this  can  be  done  only  through  the  sat- 
isfaction of  all  other  desires,  that  the  completest  selfish- 
ness is  also  the  completest  unselfishness  ;  that  hedonism 
and  rigorism,  egoism  and  altruism  are  the  same  thing. 


TASK  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  39 

I  cannot  here  enter  further  into  the  details  of  this 
philosophy,  though  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  work 
these  out  into  lucidity.  I  merely  wish  to  show  in  gen- 
eral its  nature,  method,  and  morsfl  results,  and  to  insist 
that  without  a  philosophy,  that  is,  a  completely  rational 
account  of  the  world,  eschewing  faith,  agnosticism,  and 
every  form  of  unintelligence,  we  cannot  make  any  sure- 
footed progress  at  all.  Before  we  can  deal  confidently 
with  the  world  and  our  relations  to  it,  that  is,  before 
we  can  live  an  open-eyed  life,  we  must  understand  the 
world,  including  ourselves,  or,  better,  ourselves  including 
the  world.  It  is  all  very  well  to  say  that  a  good  life  is 
worth  striving  for  on  its  own  account,  and  that  no  phi- 
losophy is  needed  in  order  to  do  that ;  but  those  who  do 
so  forget  that  without  a  philosophy  it  is  impossible  to 
say  wiiat  a  good  life  is,  without  falling  back  upon  mere 
popular  opinion  or  prejudice  —  a  poor  resort.  Thus, 
then,  the  first  and  most  fundamental  task  of  the  coming 
century  is  the  elaboration  of  a  philosophy  of  the  world 
in  consciousness.  This  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted 
upon ;  for  without  it  our  best  efforts  are  mere  gropings 
in  the  dark,  without  clew  and  without  aim;  and  what- 
ever is  without  aim  is  without  inspiration.  And  along 
with  this  philosophy  must  go  an  utter  repudiation  of 
everything  that  conflicts  with  it,  no  matter  what  author- 
ity it  may  claim.  All  pretended  revelation,  all  super- 
naturalism,  all  unintelligible  dogmas  and  mysteries,  all 
religions  that  cannot  make  good  their  claims  at  the 
tribunal  of  reason,  all  romantic  and  sentimental  views 
of  life,  all  agnosticism,  must  be  quietly  but  resolutely 
brushed  aside.    We  must  live  by  truth  and  truth  alone. 


40  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

If  it  be  insisted  that  without  supernatural  religion  we 
know  nothing  of  immortality,  that  must  be  resolutely 
denied ;  for  philosophy,  when  disburdened  of  theology, 
is  fully  capable  of  showing  that  the  self-conscious  being 
is  above  time.  In  continuing  to  palter  with  the  dogmas 
of  Christian  supernaturalism  to  the  exclusion  of  nobler 
things,  we  are  disloyal  to  truth  and  to  all  the  best  inter- 
ests of  humanity.  Nay,  we  are  even  disloyal  to  the  first 
principles  of  the  government  under  which  we  live.  For 
while  supernaturalism  finds  the  source  of  all  authority 
in  a  will  external  to  man's,  this  government  finds  it  in 
man's.  The  former  leaves  man  a  slave,  the  latter  makes 
him  free.  Between  the  two  there  is  no  compromise  or 
truce  possible,  and  the  attempt  to  make  such  brings  only 
confusion  and  complication  such  as  retards  our  prog- 
ress at  the  present  day.  The  simple  truth  is  that  this 
republic  is,  in  principle,  a  religion  far  nobler,  and  far 
'.aore  full  of  promise,  than  any  that  has  ever  before 
appeared  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  alone  acknowl- 
edges man  to  be  the  source  of  moral  authority,  hence 
to  be  a  free  being,  the  carver  of  his  own  eternal 
destiny.  We  might,  indeed,  fairly  say  that  the  task  of 
the  twentieth  century,  and  of  all  the  succeeding  ones,  is 
simply  the  realization  of  the  ideal  of  individual  freedom, 
involving  self-existence,  that  lies  at  the  basis  of  our  re- 
public. That  ideal  implies  that  the  divine  is  not  a 
single  spirit,  of  which  all  c^Jher  spirits,  so  called,  are 
merely  creations,  that  is,  self  less  phenomena,  but  that  it 
is  a  republic  of  self-existent  spirits,  each  seeking  the 
realization  of  its  desires  through  love,  through  intimacy 
with  all  the  rest,  and  finding  its  heaven  in  such  intimacy. 


TASK  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  41 

Such  a  republic  ours  endeavors  to  be,  and  as  such  it  is 
the  expression  of  the  ultimate  and  absolute  religion. 
For  us,  and  perhaps  for  us  alone,  true  patriotism  and 
true  religion  are  identical.  And  this  we  have  half 
recognized  in  a  curious  way.  We  have  disallowed 
external  divine  authority  in  our  government,  and  we 
have  refused  to  let  supernatural  religion  be  taught  in 
our  public  schools ;  but  yet  we  have  not  openly  intro- 
duced into  either  the  religion  of  free  spirit,  the  reli- 
gious ideal  upon  which  all  our  institutions  rest.  Thus 
our  state  and  our  schools  are  without  religious  sanc- 
tions, except  such  as  they  surreptitiously  borrow  from 
a  religion  of  external  authority  utterl}^  alien  to  them  in 
spirit,  and  continually  tending  to  overthrow  them.  This 
sad  condition  of  things  it  is  part  of  the  task  of  the 
approaching  century  to  put  an  end  to,  wiping  out  that 
distracting  and  confusing  dualism  of  church  and  state, 
of  religious  and  civic  life,  which  robs  the  former  of  con- 
tent and  the  latter  of  enthusiasm,  thus  degrading  both. 
In  the  future  American  republicanism  must  be  not 
merely  a  system  of  politics,  but  also  a  religion,  the  sole 
and  sufficient  religion  of  every  American  free  citizen. 
As  a  religion,  it  will  not  only  continually  labor  and 
tend  to  validate  the  rights  of  every  individual  spirit,  as 
an  end  to  itself  and  as  a  contributor  to  all  other  ends, 
and  so  to  do  away  with  all  those  pitiful  conflicts  that, 
for  the  sake  of  half-animal  enjoyments,  range  class 
against  class,  giving  rise  to  such  morbid  phenomena 
as  socialism  and  anarchism,  both  subversive  of  true 
freedom,  but  it  will  also  show  us  that  this  temporal 
life  of  ours  on   earth  is  a  necessary  phase  of  eternal 


42  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

life,  which  will  and  must  be  just  what  we,  with  our 
knowledge,  love,  and  will  desire  that  it  shall  be. 

In  order  that  our  philosophy  may  be  truly  a  unified 
account  of  the  evolving  world,  we  must  labor  unre- 
mittingly to  know,  that  is,  to  arrange  and  classify  the 
facts  and  processes  of  that  world.  And  this  means 
that  one  important  part  of  the  coming  century's  task 
will  be  to  "  make  knowledge  circle  with  the  winds," 
to  turn  everybody  into  a  devoted  student.  It  is  truly 
amazing  how  few  people  in  our  time  are  real  students, 
how  many  know  almost  nothing  of  the  view  of  exist- 
ence revealed  by  modern  science  and  philosophy;  for 
how  many  the  world  is  a  meaningless  show,  full  of 
grim  hobgoblins,  among  which  they  stagger  round  in 
doubt  or,  at  best,  in  blind  faith,  or  yet  blinder  agnos- 
ticism. At  first  sight  it  seems  preposterous  to  say  that 
everybody  must  become  a  student,  and  it  is  sneeringly 
asked:  How  can  people  who  have  to  spend  all  their 
time  and  energy  in  earning  a  bare  livelihood  find  time 
or  energy  to  be  students?  And  yet  that  is  the  only 
condition  on  which  the  ideal  of  our  nation  can  ever 
become  a  reality.  This  nation  owes  it  to  every  one  of 
its  citizens  to  see  to  it  that  he  has  time  and  strength 
left  to  be  a  student.  That  is  simple  justice.  And  one 
of  the  tasks  of  the  century  must  be  to  make  that 
possible.  It  is  not  very  long  since  the  notion  that 
every  person  should  be  taught  to  write  and  cipher 
was  scouted  as  an  impossible  chimera.  To-day  this  is 
almost  an  accomplished  fact,  and  the  state  recognizes 
that,  in  simple  justice,  it  owes  this  to  its  citizens. 
Now  that  we  have  attained  universal  common-school 


TASK  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  43 

education,  we  must  proceed  and  make  universal  col- 
lege education  a  fact.  I  do  not  say  that  the  state 
should  undertake  to  give  this  education ;  far  from  it ! 
but  I  do  say  that  the  state  should  insist  upon  every 
one  of  its  citizens  being  raised  to  that  grade  of  intelli- 
gence which  renders  its  own  existence,  as  what  it 
claims  to  be,  a  government  by  and  for  free  men,  per- 
manently possible,  and  should  remove  all  economic 
and  other  obstacles  that  stand  in  the  way  of  this. 
Citizenship  should  be  a  college  degree,  and  the  only 
degree,  and  all  persons  who  have  not  taken  it  should 
be  denied  all  share  in  political  power.  That  is  only 
justice  to  them,  as  well  as  to  other  citizens;  for  to 
put  political  power  into  the  hands  of  those  who  do 
not  understand  the  purpose  and  meaning  of  political 
institutions  is  the  height  of  injustice  and  stupidity. . 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  must  be  evident  that  the 
educational  task  of  the  twentieth  century  cannot  be  per- 
formed without  a  great  change  in  our  present  economic 
conditions,  since  under  these  such  education  is  impos- 
sible. They  must  be  replaced  by  others  which  will  make 
it  possible  for  every  parent  to  give  his  children  a  col- 
lege education.  How  is  this  to  be  done  ?  The  readiest 
answer  will  be.  By  socialism.  But  we  have  already  seen 
that  this  involves  the  loss  of  the  very  thing  for  which  the 
state  exists,  —  personal  liberty.  Some  other  way  must, 
therefore,  be  found,  which  shall  preserve  the  rights  of 
free  individuality,  and  yet  insure  it  the  material  con- 
ditions for  self-development.  And  this  way,  it  seems 
to  me,  can  be  reached  under  the  same  circumstances 
that  would  render  socialism  possible ;  that  is,  when  the 


44  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

majority  of  the  people  are  convinced  that  such  way 
ought  to  be  found  and  are  prepared  to  make  the  neces- 
sary sacrifices.  The  great  economic  task  of  the  coming 
century  will  consist  in  bringing  this  conviction  home 
to  the  great  body  of  the  people  and  preparing  them 
for  the  needed  progress.  And  this  can  be  done  only 
by  introducing  a  new  ideal  of  life,  and  a  new  valuation 
of  the  things  that  enter  into  it.  This  must  be  the  out- 
come of  our  new  philosophy,  which  by  showing  us  that 
the  only  thing  truly  valuable  in  existence  is  spiritual 
perfection,  and  the  only  heaven  the  community  of  saints, 
that  is,  the  intimacy  of  free,  pure,  wise,  loving,  and 
beneficent  spirits,  must  induce  us  to  transfer  the  inter- 
est which  we  now  attribute  to  material  wealth  to  that 
for  which  wealth  is  merely  a  means.  Then  people, 
instead  of  entering  upon  business  for  the  vulgar  pur- 
pose of  acquiring  wealth  for  selfish  comfort  and  vain 
display,  will  do  so  in  order  to  obtain  culture  for  them- 
selves and  families  and  to  aid  their  fellows  in  doing 
the  same.  Their  aim  in  the  employment  of  labor  will 
be,  not  to  lower,  but  to  raise  wages ;  or,  better  still,  to 
give  no  wages  at  all,  but  a  share  and  an  interest  in  their 
business  itself.  They  will  ask  themselves,  not.  How 
many  material  things  can  I  possess?  but.  How  many 
men  can  I  enable  to  rise  to  the  heights  of  spiritual 
culture  and  to  live  lives  worthy  of  immortal  beings, 
worthy  of  the  deepest  friendship  and  love?  To-day 
men's  chief  interest  is  in  things,  and  not  in  men;  real 
devoted  friendship  is  a  thing  almost  unknown.  But 
surely  there  is  something  exceedingly  uncultured  and 
vulgar  in  the  character  of  people  who  are  willing  to 


TASK  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  45 

surround  themselves  with  impudent  luxury  which  in 
no  way  contributes  to  their  spiritual  elevation,  while 
they  allow  perhaps  hundreds  of  men  and  women  in 
their  immediate  neighborhood  to  struggle  on  darkly  in 
poverty,  ignorance,  and  vice,  which  utterly  unfit  them 
for  all  the  nobler  forms  of  spiritual  intimacy,  for  all 
the  joys  of  heaven.  There  is  something  truly  hideous 
in  all  this,  and  it  is  only  our  familiarity  with  it  that 
prevents  us  from  rising  up  in  indignation  against  it. 

I  say  then  that  the  economic  task  of  the  twentieth 
century  is  to  convince  men  and  women  of  the  true 
meaning  and  function  of  material  possessions,  to  show 
them  tliat  the  real  "wealth  of  nations"  is  a  body  of 
cultured  citizens,  rich  in  kno\tledge,  love,  and  will,  not 
a  mass  of  material  things  owned  by  a  pack  of  spiritual 
boors.  When  this  conviction  has  been  reached,  and 
each  man  makes  the  culture  of  all  his  chief  end,  then 
there  will  be  no  need  for  enslaving  socialism ;  then  the 
conflicts  between  capital  and  labor  will  cease,  and  with 
them  other  minor  difficulties,  such  as  the  servant  ques- 
tion, the  land  question,  and  the  currency  question. 

I  have  thus,  I  think,  enumerated  the  main  depart- 
ments of  the  task  of  the  twentieth  century.  What  I 
have  said  may  be  recapitulated  in  a  few  words.  The 
task  before  us  is  (1)  to  come  to  clearness  with  regard  to 
the  nature  and  destiny  of  man,  by  an  appeal  to  science, 
and  an  eschewing  of  all  authority  however  hoary,  and 
(2)  having  discovered  that  he  is  an  eternal  being,  des- 
tined to  grow  forever  in  knowledge,  love,  and  will, 
through  deeper  and  ever  deeper  relations  to  his  fellow- 
beings,  to  supply  the  conditions  most  favorable  to  this 


46  EDUCATION  OF   THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

growth,  by  making  it  the  conscious  aim  of  every  member 
of  the  race.  A  serious  effort  to  perform  this  task  would 
initiate  a  new  era  in  the  world's  history  —  the  era  of 
divine  humanity,  the  era  of  the  "Eternal  Gospel"  and 
of  the  "  Holy  Spirit,"  so  long  foreshadowed  by  poet  and 
sage.  And  let  no  one  say  that,  in  eschewing  authority 
and  revelation,  we  are  diminishing  the  hopes  of  men, 
or  accepting  a  lower  ideal  of  heroism  and  sainthood 
than  has  existed  in  the  past.  Far  from  it!  We  are 
turning  hopes  into  certainties,  and  calling,  for  the  first 
time  in  the  world's  history,  for  true  morality  —  a  mo- 
rality which  extends  to  every  faculty  of  the  human 
being,  in  all  his  relations  with  himself  and  fellows,  and 
which  looks  forward  to  no  reward  which  it  can  pos- 
sibly miss,  since  that  reward  is  itself.  Furthermore, 
let  no  one  say  that  such  a  life  view  leaves  nothing  to 
the  imagination,  makes  no  place  for  art  or  poetry.  The 
very  reverse  is  true.  By  removing  those  grotesque 
and  stereotyped  imaginings  of  the  future  life,  which 
dwarfed  and  stiffened  the  fancy,  and  contracted  the 
field  of  ideal  art,  it  throws  open  to  imagination  and  art 
the  entire  field  of  possible  spiritual  achievement  and 
spiritual  bliss,  and  invites  them  to  construct  ever  higher 
and  more  varied  ideals  of  human  nobility  and  human 
intimacy.  For  what  is  art  but  the  depiction  of  the 
triumph  of  spirit,  revealed  to  enthusiasm  as  beauty,  as 
that  form  of  existence  which  needs  no  excuse? 

I  suppose  there  is  no  difference  of  opinion  with 
regard  to  the  task  of  the  future :  it  is  to  do  away  with 
poverty,  ignorance,  and  vicja»-aj}d,to  raise  men  to  spirit- 
ual culture  and  freedom,  to   make   of  earth  what  we 


TASK  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  47 

would  wish  heaven  to  be.  But  two  questions  still  face 
us :  (1)  How  shall  this  condition  be  brouglit  about? 
and  (2)  What  sort  of  social  order  does  it  imply  ?  We 
shall  treat  them  in  this  order. 

As  to  the  former,  the  task  before  us  demands,  first  of 
all,  apostles,  —  earnest,  devoted  men  who,  having  risen 
to  a  clear  insight  into  man's  nature  and  his  eternal 
destiny,  and  recognized  that  as  the  only  end  worth 
working  for,  are  ready  to  devote  themselves,  body  and 
soul,  like  Paul  of  old,  to  its  attainment.  But  alas! 
this  demand  is  not  easily  met.  Men  of  real  earnest- 
ness in  regard  to  spiritual  attainment  are  to-day  rare 
as  perhaps  never  before.  The  day  of  spiritual  hero- 
ism seems  to  have  passed.  Every  one  is  eager  to  find 
somewhere  to  lay  his  head,  some  comfortable  nook  or 
niche  in  which  he  may  be  free  from  struggle  and  the 
need  for  great  moral  initiative.  There  is  moral  and 
intellectual  cowardice  almost  everywhere.  There  is, 
indeed,  a  widely  spread  sentiment  of  kindliness,  mis- 
called humanity,  which  would  be  pleased  to  see  every 
human  being  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  pain  and 
struggle,  beyond  the  need  of  strong  willing,  and  the 
world  reduced  to  an  easy-going,  thoughtless  garden  of 
dalliance ;  but  the  fiery  enthusiasm  for  human  worth, 
for  the  divine-human  ideal,  where  do  we  find  it?  And 
yet  that  is  what  must  be  found  ere  the  task  of  the 
twentieth  century  can  begin.  Somewhere  there  must 
be  found  a  small  devoted  band  of  men  and  women  of 
fearless  character,  clear  philosophic  insight,  and  mighty 
spiritual  love,  who,  living  a  divine  life  in  their  relations 
to  each  other,  shall  labor,  with  all  the  strength  that  is 


48  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

in  them,  to  lift  their  fellows  into  the  same  divine  life. 
Forming  a  "settlement"  in  some  city  or  town,  they 
must  preach  and  teach  and  toil,  not  merely  among  the 
poor  and  needy,  but  also,  and  perhaps  chiefly,  among 
the  well-to-do,  until  they  have  impressed  upon  them 
the  true  ideal  of  life  as  struggle  for  spiritual  worth  — 
for  insight  and  love  and  will  —  and  conjured  up  before 
them  the  picture  of  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth, 
the  scene  of  the  ever-deepening  intimacy  of  pure,  free 
spirits.  They  must  make  their  settlement  the  very 
center  of  the  city's  life,  its  school,  its  college,  its  uni- 
versity, its  church,  its  ethical  society,  and  its  theater,  all 
in  one,  and  all  guided  by  the  same  lofty  aim.  They  must 
endeavor  to  withdraw  those  that  join  them  from  the 
world  that  is,  with  its  selfishness,  its  vanity,  its  love  of 
show  and  foolish,  aimless  amusement,  and  make  them 
the  first  citizens  of  the  world  that  is  to  come,  with  its 
friendship,  its  simplicity,  and  its  active  interest  in  all 
worthy  things.  They  must  interest  themselves  in  all 
social  movements  and  endeavor  to  give  them  a  spiritual 
turn.  They  must  establish  an  institution  which  shall  do 
for  the  natural,  freedom-guided  life  of  the  future  what 
the  church  undertook  to  do  for  the  authority-awed  life 
of  the  past.  And  they  will  have  much  to  learn  from  the 
church,  above  all,  its  discipline,  and  its  care  for  souls, 
adding  thereto  the  care  of  bodies.  Discipline  is  the 
backbone  of  every  gospel  that  has  any  chance  of  suc- 
cess. All  great  religions.  Buddhism,  Judaism,  Glixis-t- 
ianitj^  Islam,  have  been,  above  all,  disciplines,  institu- 
tions for  training  the  affections  and  the  will,  as  well 
as  the  intellect.     There  is  no  worthy  religion  that  does 


TASK  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  49 

not  set  its  followers  a  great  task,  demanding  self-abne- 
gation and  heroic  endeavor.  Through  such  task  alone 
does  man  become  aware  of  his  divinity,  and  blest  in 
that  awareness.  And,  after  all,  discipline  is  the  nurse 
of  freedom.  We  have  to  be  trained  to  be  free,  in  any 
sense  in  which  freedom  has  any  value. 

When  our  little  knot  of  men  and  women  have  fully 
established  themselves  in  one  city,  have  increased  in 
numbers,  and  have  learned  by  experience  what  regula- 
tions, forms,  and  activities  are  most  conducive  to  their 
ends,  they  will  send  out  bands  of  apostles  to  establish 
settlements  in  other  cities,  just  as  the  mediaeval  monas- 
teries did,  until  gradually  the  whole  nation  and,  finally, 
the  whole  world,  is  leavened  with  the  new  spirit  —  the 
spirit  that  underlies  our  American  institutions  —  buried, 
at  present,  alas,  how  deep ! 

As  to  our  second  question,  relating  to  the  future 
form  of  social  life,  it  is  not  easy  to  give  it  a  definite 
answer.  That  it  will  be  different  from  the  present 
form  is  very  certain :  that  is  already  giving  way  under 
the  pressure  of  circumstances.  The  family,  living  in  its 
isolated  abode,  with  its  servants,  regarded  and  treated 
as  inferiors,  its  private  kitchen,  laundry,  and  dining- 
room,  its  exclusive  parties,  and  the  rest,  belongs  to  an 
obsolete,  inhumane,  and  un-American  order  of  things, 
against  which  the  apartment  house  and  the  family  hotel 
are  clear  protests.  No  less  so  is  the  summer  hotel,  where 
many  families  that  in  winter  occupy  separate  houses 
meet  at  a  common  table,  and  in  a  common  drawing- 
room,  and  seem  thoroughly  to  enjoy  it.  All  this,  I 
think,  points  to  the  conclusion  that  the  type  of  future 


60  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

life  will  be  the  monastery,  with  the  family,  instead  of 
the  individual,  for  its  unit.  Such  a  mode  of  life  would 
solve  many  of  our  present  domestic  and  social  difficulties. 
It  would  afford  that  combination  of  society  and  solitude 
which  is  best  for  man;  it  would  enable  families  of 
moderate  means  to  share  and  enjoy  much,  not  access- 
ible to  them  in  their  isolation,  —  good  art,  good  music, 
good  literature,  etc.  It  would  be  most  civilizing  and 
humanizing  in  its  effect.  The  old,  ascetic,  other-worldly, 
nature-mutilating  monasteries  have  almost  passed  away, 
with  the  view  of  life  which  gave  them  birth;  but  it 
may  be  that  they  will  revive  under  a  new  form  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  higher,  humaner,  completer  life  that  is 
to  be.  Yet  all  this  is  merely  a  suggestion,  a  surmise. 
No  one  can  at  present  tell  with  certainty  what  the  form 
of  twentieth-century  life  will  be.  Only  one  thing,  I 
think,  is  certain.  The  family,  as  a  moral  institution, 
will  attain  increased  significance ;  as  the  chief  center 
of  the  efforts  of  all  its  members,  the  goal  of  a  man's 
business  ambition,  and  the  main  outlet  for  his  wealth, 
it  will  sink  in  importance  as  it  ought,  and  give  place  to 
a  larger  object  of  interest.  The  man  whose,  labor  and 
thought  are  expended  altogether  on  his  family  is  only 
one  step  above  the  man  who  labors  and  plans  only  for 
himself.  A  man  is  often  an  angel  to  his  family  and  a 
demon  to  all  the  rest  of  the  world.  The  diamonds  for 
the  wife  often  cost  the  bread  of  the  poor.  This  should 
not  be  so. 

This  is  not  the  first  time  I  have  spoken  of  these 
things,  these  aspirations  and  hopes.  They  are  my 
daily  and  hourly  companions.     But  I  seldom  find  that 


TA§K  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  51 

they  meet  with  much  response  when  I  speak  them  out. 
They  mean  toil  of  mind  and  body ;  they  mean  courage, 
independence,  self-abnegation,  a  laying  down  of  one's 
own  life  and  a  taking  up  of  that  of  the  world;  they 
mean  willingness  to  undergo  obloquy,  neglect,  derision; 
they  mean  dying  in  order  to  live.  And  there  are  few 
people,  in  this  morally  unheroic  and  self-seeking  time, 
prepared  for  these  things.  Every  one  feels  that  his  task 
is  the  attainment  of  temporal  well-being  for  himself; 
and  so  the  task  of  the  centuries,  the  task  of  eternity, 
hardly  appeals  to  him.  Nay,  he  is  often  fain  to  forget 
that  there  is  any  eternity,  and  so  is  content  to  live  the 
life  of  the  ephemeron.  But  this  cannot  always  be  so. 
Even  in  this  matter-ridden  time,  and  even  as  a  reaction 
against  materialism,  there  must  soon  arise  a  few  people 
for  whom  the  interests  of  eternity  shall  outbid  the 
interests  of  time,  and  an  apostolate  be  found  to  begin 
the  task  of  the  twentieth  century. 

Unto  each  man  his  handiwork,  unto  each  his  crown, 

The  just  Fate  gives ; 
Whoso  takes  the  world's  life  on  him,  and  his  own  lays  down, 

He,  dying  so,  lives. 

Whoso  bears  the  whole  heaviness  of  the  wronged  world's  weight. 

And  puts  it  by; 
It  is  well  with  him  suffering,  though  he  face  man's  fate ; 

How  should  he  die  ? 

Seeing  death  has  no  part  in  him  any  more,  no  power 

Upon  his  head ; 
He  has  bought  his  eternity  with  a  little  hour, 

And  is  not  dead. 


« 
62  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

For  an  houi:,  if  ye  look  for  hiin,  he  is  no  more  found, 

For  one  hour's  space ; 
Then  ye  lift  up  your  eyes  to  him  and  behold  him  crowned, 

A  deathless  face. 

On  the  mountains  of  memory,  by  the  world's  wellsprings, 

In  all  men's  eyes, 
Where  the  light  of  the  life  of  him  is  on  all  past  things. 

Death  only  dies.^ 

1  Swinburne,  "  Super  Flumina  Babylonis." 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   EDUCATIONAL   PROBLEMS   WHICH   THE 

NINETEENTH  CENTURY  HANDS  OVER 

TO  THE  TWENTIETH 

A  FREE  life  is  the  only  life  worthy  of  a  human  being. 
That  which  is  not  free  is  not  responsible,  and  that  which 
is  not  responsible  is  not  moral.  In  other  words,  freedom 
is  the  condition  of  morality.     That  is  simple  enough. 

Now,  freedom,  taken  in  its  broadest  sense,  is  condi- 
tioned by  several  things,  such  as  health  of  body,  wealth, 
and,  above  all,  education.  It  is  obvious  enough  that, 
however  wealthy  and  cultured  a  man  may  be,  if  he  has 
not  health,  his  freedom  will  be  sadly  curtailed  in  its 
exercise.  Nor  is  it  less  obvious  that,  if  a  man  is  des- 
titute of  wealth,  and  has  to  spend  his  entire  time  in 
obtaining^  the  bare  necessaries  of  life,  he  is  to  all 
intents  and  purposes  a  slave  to  his  body.  •  Lastly,  it 
is  clear  enough  that  the  uneducated  man,  however  well 
endowed  with  health  and  wealth,  is  a  slave.  In  the 
first  place,  he  is  a  slave  to  other  people's  opinions,  as 
every  one  must  be  who  fails  to  think  for  himself.  He 
who  acts  upon  the  thought  of  another  is  practically 
that  other's  slave.  This  we  see  daily  in  the  political 
world,  where  the  great  body  of  the  people,  on  account 
of  their  ignorance,  are  deprived  of  their  rights,  and 
often  of  other  things,  by  selfish  men  who  have  received 

53 


54  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

a  good  education.  In  the  second  place,  he  is  continu- 
ally faced  by  circumstances,  the  bearing  of  which  he 
does  not  understand,  and  hence  is  compelled  either  not 
to  act  at  all,  or  else  to  act  in  the  perilous  dark.  Worst 
of  all  he  is  cooped  up  in  a  pitiful,  beggarly  world  of 
facts  and  interests  mostly  of  a  material  sort,  knowing 
nothing  of  the  world  of  science  and  philosophy,  art 
and  literature.  The  great  drama  of  history  is  a  blank 
to  him.  He  is  not  inspired  by  its  lessons,  its  noble 
characters  and  stirring  events.  He  knows  nothing  of 
the  marvels  of  literature,  —  Homer,  iEschylus,  the 
Hebrew  prophets,  Dante,  Shakespeare,  Goethe,  —  noth- 
ing of  architecture,  sculpture,  painting,  or  music,  noth- 
ing of  the  great  discoveries  and  inventions  that  cast  all 
the  fairy  tales  into  the  shadow,  and  suggest  a  world  of 
boundless  possibilities.  Again,  he  knows  nothing  of 
his  own  nature,  origin,  or  destiny,  except,  perhaps, 
certain  childish  myths  that  grew  up  before  science  was 
born.  The  great  truths  of  ethics,  politics,  econom- 
ics, philosophy  are  beyond  his  ken,  so  that  he  hardly 
knows  what  the  words  mean.  Thus,  on  all  sides,  he  is 
hampered,  fettered,  shut  up  in  a  bare,  squalid,  narrow 
world,  dark  within  and  dark  without.  In  such  a  world 
he  has  small  opportunity  for  freedom.  He  is  thankful, 
if  he  can  walk  in  some  beaten  track  and  keep  out  of 
mischief.  And,  indeed,  he  often  fails  to  do  even  that. 
He  is,  moreover,  forced  to  confine  himself  to  dull,  igno- 
rant, perhaps  coarse  company,  and  to  such  low  forms  of 
enjoyment  as  smoking,  drinking,  gambling,  roughness, 
or  even  worse  vices.  And,  indeed,  what  else  should 
we    expect   from   a   man   shut   up   by   ignorance   and 


EDUCATIOi^AL  PROBLEMS  55 

unculture  in  a  dull,  monotonous  Devil's  Island  prison  ? 
Of  all  the  sad  effects  of  ignorance,  perhaps  the  saddest 
is,  that  it  cuts  its  victims  off  from  the  society  of  intelli- 
gent and  cultured  men  and  women.  It  is  utterly  vain 
to  try  to  make  the  cultured  and  the  uncultured  man 
meet  socially  on  common  ground.  With  the  best  of 
wills  they  cannot  do  it.  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  tried  to 
induce  his  servants  to  sit  at  table  with  the  family,  and 
benefit  by  its  cultured  conversation.  What  was  the 
result?  The  servants  after  a  few  attempts  absolutely 
rebelled,  so  uncomfortable  were  they,  and  thenceforth 
took  their  meals  in  the  kitchen.  One  summer,  in  the 
Adirondacks,  I  persuaded  my  servants  to  mix  with  my 
guests  at  a  house-warming.  They  put  on  their  best 
clothes  and  came ;  but,  though  every  one  was  polite 
to  them,  they  stood  it  only  about  fifteen  minutes,  and 
then  escaped  to  the  kitchen.  Thus  the  ignorant  are 
condemned  to  associate  with  the  ignorant,  and  to  be 
cut  off  from  the  world  of  intelligence  and  culture  — 
from  the  very  influences  which  they  most  need.  But 
this  is  surely  a  lamentable  state  of  affairs,  especially  in 
a  democratic  country,  where  intelligent  citizenship  is 
demanded  of  everybody.  Are  we  not,  as  a  nation, 
unfaithful  to  our  own  principles,  if  we  allow  it  to  con- 
tinue? Are  we  not  endangering  the  very  existence 
of  our  free  institutions?  Are  we  not,  as  individuals, 
guilty  of  heartless  cruelty  to  our  brothers  and  sisters, 
in  allowing  them  to  be  disinherited  of  their  share  in 
the  great  treasures  of  spiritual  goods  heaped  up  by 
the  labors  of  past  generations?  How  can  any  learned 
and  cultured  man  or  woman  look  his  or  her  ignorant 


66  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

and  neglected  brother  or  sister  in  the  face  and  not  blush 
with  shame  ? 

The  practical  question  is,  How  shall  an  end  be  put  to 
this  utterly  disgraceful  condition  of  things?  In  other 
words,  the  chief  educational  problem  which  the  nine- 
teenth century  passes  on  to  the  twentieth  is.  By  what 
I  means  shall  every  citizen  in  the  nation  receive  such  a 
1  training  for  body  and  soul  as  shall  enable  him  to  enjoy 
all  the  treasures  of  culture  won  by  past  generations,  and 
to  take  part  in  all  the  activities  of  life  with  intelligence, 
energy,  and  beneficence  ?  There  are  other  problems,  but 
they  are  subordinate  to  this. 

In  one  respect,  the  educational  problem,  in  this  coun- 
try, is  much  simpler  than  the  economic  one.  The  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  may  be  said  to  have  declared 
unanimously  for  socialism  in  education,  without  having, 
so  far  as  I  know,  set  any  limits  to  the  education  that  may 
be  given.  Indeed,  having  adopted  the  principle,  it  can- 
not logically  stop  anywhere.  All  our  states,  I  believe, 
provide  for  primary  and  common  school  education  ;  most 
of  them  for  high-school  education ;  and  many  even  for 
college  and  university  education.  Indeed,  I  see  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  most  of  our  states  would  provide  for  any 
grade  of  education  for  which  there  was  any  consider- 
able demand  —  even  for  what  it  might  seem  their  most 
obvious  duty  to  give,  education  in  statesmanship.  That, 
however,  is  not  the  only  condition  required,  and  such 
education  must  be  given  under  conditions  that  can  be 
met  by  all.  Now,  at  present,  all  these  conditions  are, 
to  a  large  extent,  non-existent.  There  is  no  consider- 
able demand  for  higher  education ;  the  higher  education 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  67 

given  to  the  few  is  far  from  being  the  sort  that  is  needed 
for  the  many;  and  it  is  not  given  under  such  circum- 
stances that  all  can  take  advantage  of  it.  Let  us  consider 
these  points  in  order. 

1.  There  is  no  universal  demand  for  higher  education; 
for  which  reason  the  state  does  not  offer  it  to  all.  This  is 
due  to  several  causes.  In  the  first  place,  there  are  many 
families  in  which  there  exists  no  notion  of  the  nature  and 
advantages  of  higher  education,  in  which  there  is  never 
a  thought  of  the  children's  being  anything  but  subordi- 
nates and  drudges,  and  in  which  culture  and  refinement 
are  regarded  with  suspicion  or  aversion.  The  parents 
have  accepted  their  own  dark  lot  with  a  kind  of  dogged 
defiance,  and  they  do  not  see  why  their  children  should 
not  do  the  same.  Culture  would  separate  their  children 
from  them,  and  they  naturally  dread  this.  These  are 
very  difficult  cases.  The  dull,  brutish  contentment  with 
mean,  vulgar  conditions,  the  lack  of  all  higher  ambitions, 
is  something  very  hard  to  overcome.  Again,  in  many  fam- 
ilies there  is  a  certain  dread  of  higher  education.  They 
think  it  unsettles  children,  turns  them  aside  from  the 
quiet,  beaten  paths  of  respectability,  and  makes  them 
question  old  customs  and  religious  beliefs.  Such  notions 
are  to  be  found  not  only  among  the  poor,  but  also  among 
the  rich,  and  are  frequently  fostered  by  priests  and  min- 
isters.i     These  are  also  very  hard  cases.      This  stolid, 

1  The  head  of  one  of  the  most  fashionable  ladies'  schools  in 
New  York  once  told  me  that  his  pupils  came  to  him  "all  covered 
over  with  padlocks,"  which  he  was  not  allowed  to  touch;  that  par- 
ents protested  the  moment  he  tried  to  deal  with  any  subject  bearing 
on  the  conduct  of  life,  or  likely  to  make  the  young  ladies  question 
any  of  its  conventionalities. 


68  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

contented,  immovable  respectability,  which  dreads  to  be 
disturbed  into  life,  this  owlish  orthodoxy,  which  fears  to 
be  forced  to  think  or  question,  can  be  removed  only  by  the 
slow  advance  of  enlightenment,  making  such  prejudices 
the  opposite  of  respectable.^  But  the  main  reason  why 
the  higher  education  is  not  demanded  by  all  is  that  so 
many  cannot  afford  the  time  for  it.  Families  with  meager 
incomes  find  it  impossible  to  support  grown  boys  and 
girls  while  they  pursue  the  higher  studies.  The  young 
people  must  "  go  to  work,"  often  at  a  very  early  age,  in 
order  to  make  a  living  for  themselves  and  help  their  fam- 
ilies ;  and  one  continually  hears  touching  stories  of  devo- 
tion and  heroism  among  such  young  workers.  "  Going 
to  work  "  means,  in  most  cases,  the  end  of  education,  nay, 
even  the  loss  of  much  that  has  been  already  learned. 
Long,  dreary,  mechanic  working  hours,  amid  cheerless 
surroundings,  coupled  with  poor  food,  bad  air,  heartless 
taskmasters,  and  frivolous  company,  soon  degrade  the 
bodies  and  souls  of  the  young  toilers ;  and  thus  thou- 
sands, yea,  millions,  of  boys  and  girls  that,  with  educa- 
tion, might  have  developed  into  noble  men  and  women, 
rich  in  all  the  virtues  of  head,  heart,  and  will,  sink  down 
into  mere  ''  hands,"  as  the  cruel  term  is  —  hands  worked 
by  stunted  brains  and  hungry,  discontented  hearts.^     It 

1  See  Dante's  scornful  description  of  the  vigliacchi  (cowards)  in 
"Hell,"  III,  31-69  ;  and  compare  that  of  the  accidiosi  (easy  respectables) 
in  "Purgatory,"  XVIII,  88-99. 

2  Still,  all  day,  the  iron  wheels  go  onward, 

Grinding  life  down  from  its  mark  ; 
And  the  children's  souls,  which  God  is  calling  sunward. 
Spin  on  blindly  in  the  dark. 

E.  B.  Browning,  "  The  Cry  of  the  Children." 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  59 

is  to  these  that  the  problem  of  the  higher  education 
chiefly  relates.  The  educational  question  of  the  day  is, 
How  shall  boys  and  girls  who  are  both  capable  and  de- 
sirous of  receiving  a  higher  education,  but  who  are  now 
compelled  by  poverty  to  go  to  work  at  the  age  of  thir- 
teen or  fourteen,  be  enabled  to  obtain  that  education? 
1  shall  not  undertake  to  answer  this  difficult  question. 
It  must  be  handed  over  to  the  twentieth  century.  But  I 
may  be  permitted  to  make  a  few  suggestions.  In  the 
first  place,  the  question  is  plainly,  in  one  aspect,  an  eco- 
nomic one.  In  the  coming  centuiy,  either  parents  must 
be  able  to  make  a  larger  income,  or  else  boys  and  girls 
must  be  able  to  make  a  living  in  such  a  number  of  hours 
as  shall  leave  them  sufficient  time  and  strength  to  devote 
to  education.  It  may  be  that  both  these  things  will 
happen.  It  may  be  that,  in  the  near  future,  there  will  be 
such  an  advance  in  wages,  and  such  a  cheapening  of  prod- 
ucts, through  mass  production  and  improved  machinery, 
that  every  family  of  ordinary  working  ability  shall  be 
able  to  give  its  children  all  the  education  they  desire. 
In  Scotland  this  condition  of  things  practically  exists 
now.  In  that  country,  where  the  desire  for  higher  edu- 
cation is  almost  universal,  there  is  not  a  washerwoman 
but  can  send  her  sons  to  college  if  she  chooses  and  if 
they  are  fit  to  go.  And  many  really  choose,  and  many 
sons  go.  To  be  sure,  this  often  involves  heroic  sac- 
rifices on  the  part  of  both ;  but  no  one  grudges  these, 
and  they  go  far  to  strengthen  character.  It  is  true  that 
in  Scotland  the  path  to  higher  education  is  smoothed 
by  things  that  are  hardly  to  be  found  elsewhere :  (1)  the 
parish  schoolmasters,  being  graduates  of  universities, 


60  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

can  usually  prepare  boys  for  these ;  (2)  the  universities 
offer  for  competition  a  very  large  number  of  scholar- 
ships —  ''  bursaries,"  as  they  are  called  there  —  which 
not  only  encourage  study,  but  enable  many  a  boy  to  go  to 
college  who  could  not  otherwise  do  so ;  (3)  the  universi- 
ties are  in  session  only  five  months  in  the  year,  and  these 
consecutive  and  in  the  winter,  thus  leaving  their  students 
seven  free  months  in  which  to  earn  money  with  which 
to  proceed.^  This  arrangement  is  excellent  in  many 
ways.  The  students,  though  free  for  seven  months,  do 
not,  on  that  account,  interrupt  their  studies,  nor,  indeed, 
are  they  permitted  to  do  so.  A  large  amount  of  work 
is  assigned  to  them  for  these  months,  and  on  this  they 
must  pass  an  examination  before  they  can  enter  a  higher 
class.  Thus  they  pursue  their  studies  by  themselves 
while  earning  money  for  a  fresh  session  at  the  univer- 
sity. It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  for  Scotch  stu- 
dents the  vacation  is  the  most  valuable  part  of  the  year. 
Indeed,  I  know  from  actual  experience  that  study  com- 
bined with  work  is  far  more  fruitful  than  study  by  itself, 
and  that  study  without  an  instructor  imparts  to  the  mind 
a  habit  of  independence  that  no  chaperoned  study  can 
give.  In  this  way  higher  education  finds  its  way  to  the 
very  poorest  classes  of  the  population,  and  many  of  the 
worthiest  names  in  British  literature  and  science  have 
sprung  from  these.  I  know  of  one  man  who  started  life 
as  a  hand-loom  weaver,  and  who  later  became  Lord  Rec- 
tor of  his  Alma  Mater,  a  most  honored  position.  He 
still  lives,  full  of  years  and  honors,  having  written  books 

1 1  am  speaking  of  things  as  they  existed  in  my  time,  forty  years 
ago. 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  6X 

which  take  a  high  place  in  the  world  of  science.  And 
hundreds  of  similar  cases  might  be  cited.  The  case  of 
the  "  Little  Minister "  is  by  no  means  uncommon.  It 
has  even  been  asserted  that  six  tenths  of  all  the  officials 
in  the  British  Empire  are  Scotchmen,  although  Scotland 
claims  but  one  tenth  of  the  population.  Whether  the 
condition  of  things  prevailing  in  Scotland  could  be  copied 
in  this  country,  I  cannot  say;  but  the  facts  cited  show 
that  there  is  nothing  in  the  nature  of  things  to  prevent 
the  higher  education  from  being  shared  in  by  a  whole 
people. 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  evident  that,  if  ever  the 
higher  education  is  to  become  universal  in  this  country, 
it  must  be  undertaken  by  the  state.  As  we  have  seen, 
the  state  is  committed  to  this  as  soon  as  the  demand 
for  higher  education  becomes  general ;  and  it  certainly 
ought  not  to  do  so  before.  The  question,  then,  is,  How 
shall  we  create  this  demand? 

While  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  great 
faith  in  accomplished  facts,  they  are  justly  suspicious 
of  untried  theories,  however  specious.  We  may  be 
sure,  therefore,  that  tiie  state  will  never  undertake 
to  provide  higher  education  for  the  great  body  of  the 
wage-earners  until  it  is  made  evident  that  they  are 
both  capable  and  desirous  of  such  education,  and  that 
they  will  be  more  valuable,  as  citizens,  when  they  have 
received  it.  But  this  can  be  done  only  through  the 
cooperation  of  three  classes  of  people ;  (1)  the  wage- 
earners  themselves ;  (2)  their  wealthy  friends ;  (3)  their 
scholarly  friends.  In  other  words,  before  it  can  be 
demonstrated  by  fact  that  the  wage-earners  are  ready 


62  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

for,  and  will  profit  by,  higher  education,  they  must  sup- 
ply pupils,  the  rich  must  supply  conveniences  for  the 
imparting  of  instruction,  and  the  learned  must  supply 
teachers.  And  all  three  classes  will  profit  by  the  coop- 
eration ;  for  at  present  each  suffers  greatly  by  reason  of 
its  isolation  from  the  other  two :  the  wage-earners-  from 
ignorance,  unculture,  and  envy ;  the  rich  from  conceit, 
unsympathy,  and  frivolity;  the  learned  from  pedantry, 
narrowness,  and  unpracticality.  Labor,  wealth,  and 
learning  must  be  in  full  sympathy,  before  a  perfect  and 
truly  democratic  society  can  come  into  existence. 

We  may  now  ask.  With  which  of  the  three  classes 
shall  the  movement  toward  popular  education  begin? 
With  the  first,  I  reply  —  with  the  wage-earners.  To 
the  young  among  these,  we  can  say  now :  "  If  you  desire 
the  higher  education  which  shall  make  you  intellectu- 
ally, morally,  and  socially  independent,  begin  now  to 
study  with  regularity  and  with  system  in  the  quiet  of 
your  own  rooms.  Let  each  of  you  in  some  undisturbed 
corner  have  his  work  table,  his  books,  and  his  writing 
materials,  so  that,  as  soon  as  the  day's  toil  is  over,  and 
he  has  had  a  little  exercise  and  rest,  he  may  be  able  to 
sit  down,  and  begin  each  evening  where  he  left  off  the 
evening  before."  ^     I  believe  there  is  little  possibility  of 

1  When  I  uttered  these  words,  I  was  little  aware  what  Ignorance 
they  implied  and  what  bitter  irony  they  contained.  I  afterward 
learned  that  a  very  large  number  of  my  young  hearers  came  from 
homes  in  which  there  was  not  a  quiet  or  retired  nook,  and  in  which 
they  slept,  three  or  four  in  a  room,  regardless  of  sex.  If  they  wished 
to  study  they  had  to  go  to  some  public  reading  room,  and  such  places 
are  not  very  numerous  on  the  East  Side  of  New  York.  Then  I  knew 
why  the  pool  rooms  and  such  places  are  so  well  frequented. 


EDUCATIOIS^AL  PROBLEMS  63 

study  without  some  such  arrangement  as  this.  Well  do 
I  remember,  when  I  was  only  twelve  years  old,  erecting, 
in  a  quiet  garret,  a  writing  table  of  old  tea  boxes,  and 
working  from  daylight  till  sunset  (it  was  summer  and 
vacation  time  —  "  hairst-play  "),  in  order  to  learn  French, 
which  I  was  actually  able  to  read  at  the  end  of  six  weeks. 
I  still  have  the  exercises  which  I  wrote  at  that  time 
(1853),  and  the  books  which  I  used,  well  fingered  and 
now  brown  with  age.^  That  is  half  a  century  ago  ;  but 
the  memory  of  it  is  still  fresh  and  delightful.  But  I 
have  always  spoken  French  with  a  garret  accent! 

Again,  since  study  requires  not  only  home  conven- 
iences, but  also  books,  we  may  say  to  the  young  aspir- 
ants for  higher  education,  "  save  your  pennies  and  buy 
books."  Fortunately,  in  this  country  many  good  books 
can  be  bought  for  next  to  nothing,  and  nearly  all  scholars 
have  numbers  of  them,  which  they  are  willing  to  give 
away  to  the  right  persons.     Though  living  in  a  remote 

1  This  is  the  way  I  came  into  possession  of  the  books.  Shortly 
before  vacation  began,  I  had  gone  to  the  auction  sale  of  the  effects 
of  a  recently  deceased  minister.  Among  these  was  a  large  number  of 
books,  certain  of  which  I  coveted.  Having  fifteen  pence  (thirty  cents) 
in  my  pocket,  I  began  bidding  lustily  for  some  of  them ;  but  I  soon  dis- 
covered that  they  were  all  beyond  my  means.  Though  I  was  ready 
to  cry  several  times,  I  stood  round  till  the  sale  was  over,  and  then  I 
was  rewarded.  The  less  valuable  books  were  sold  in  lots,  and  in 
these  several  buyers  found  volumes  which,  for  good  reasons,  they  did 
not  care  to  own,  — volumes  in  French,  Latin,  and  Greek.  These  they 
turned  over  to  me,  loading  me  to  such  an  extent  that  I  had  to  beg  a 
ride  in  a  cotter's  cart,  in  order  to  reach  my  home,  which  was  two 
miles  and  a  half  off.  That  night  I  was  the  happiest  boy  in  the  fifty 
parishes :  I  had  got  the  nucleus  of  a  library,  and  I  have  it  now.  Tlie 
French  books  looked  very  inviting.  I  set  to  work  at  them,  and  ere 
the  vacation  was  over,  they  contained  no  mysteries  for  me. 


64  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

country  village,  I  had  a  nice  little  library  before  I  was 
sixteen,  when  I  went  to  college. 

When  a  number  of  young  wage-earners  have  acquired 
habits  of  study  and  surrounded  themselves  with  books, 
they  will  begin  to  demand  more  favorable  conditions  for 
study,  —  shorter  work  hours,  college  buildings,  libraries, 
instructors,  —  and  when  the  demand  becomes  strong 
enough,  all  these  will  be  accorded.  If  it  were  shown 
to-morrow  that  the  wage-earners'  demand  for  shorter 
hours  was  a  demand  for  time  and  opportunity  for  self- 
culture,  it  would  certainly  be  granted.  Indeed  the 
reason  why  it  is  not  granted  now  is  because  there  is 
no  evidence  that  the  free  time  thus  acquired  would  not 
be  wasted  in  evil  ways,  greatly  to  the  detriment  of  the 
workers  and  their  families.  Then,  too,  the  rich  will  con- 
tribute their  money,  and  the  learned  their  time  and  labor, 
so  much  sympathy  is  there  for  the  toilers  struggling  for 
an  education.^  Thus  will  gradually  arise  institutions  of 
higher  education  for  the  great  body  of  the  people,  and 
when  these  are  numerous  enough  to  convince  the  state 
that  there  is  among  the  wage-workers  a  widespread  de- 
mand for  such  education,  it  will  take  hold  of  the  whole 
matter  and,  with  public  funds,  establish  a  Breadwinners' 
College  or  People's  University  in  every  city  ward  and 
in  every  country  village  or  township.  Then  the  cause 
of  the  higher  education  of  the  people  will  be  won,  and 
democrac}^  placed  on  a  firm  basis. 

1  This  sympathy  is,  indeed,  not  universal-  Among  certain  classes, 
both  of  wealthy  men  and  of  scholars,  there  is  a  snobbish,  undemo- 
cratic notion  that  the  so-called  "  lower  classes  "  require  no  more  edu- 
cation than  suffices  to  enable  them  to  earn  a  Livelihood.  More  renders 
them  discontented  J 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  65 

2.  The  higher  education  offered  in  our  colleges  and 
universities  at  present  to  the  few  is  not  of  the  sort  needed 
hy  the  many.  Our  colleges  and  universities  are  products 
of  the  Middle  Age,  of  a  time  when  people  were  far 
more  concerned  about  preparation  for  the  idle  joys  of 
heaven .  than  for  the  active  duties  of  earth,  and  they 
have  never  belied  their  origin.  Now,  surely  no  one 
can  object  to  heaven  if  it  is  of  a  nature  to  call  forth 
the  deepest  of  human  energies,  and  no  one  can  be  a 
more  fervent  believer  in  eternal  life  than  I  am;  but  I 
am  very  sure  that  the  best  way  to  prepare  for  the  social 
duties  of  heaven  (a  condition  with  no  such  duties  would 
be  hell)  is  to  perform  our  social  duties  on  earth  in  the 
worthiest  way  possible.  It  is  encouraging  to  note  that, 
at  the  present  day,  less  and  less  stress  is  laid  on  beliefs 
and  ceremonies  and  more  and  more  on  actions  and  duties. 
Originally  the  universities  were  chiefly  intended  to  pre- 
pare for  the  church,  and  were  open  to  all  properly  pre- 
pared comers,  however  poor.  Later  they  prepared  for 
the  four  "  liberal  professions,"  ^  —  theology,  law,  medi- 
cine, and  philosophy,  —  which,  being  special  activities, 
occupied  but  a  small  number  of  persons  compared  with 
the  entire  population.  Thus  the  higher  education  had 
largely  a  supernatural  aim,  and  was  confined  to  a  small 
number  of  people  who  alone  were  supposed  to  be  liber- 
ally educated.  And  this  mediaeval  condition  of  things 
continues,  to  a  large  extent,  down  to  the  present  day. 
Our  universities  still  retain  much  of  the  old  supernat- 
ural curriculum,  and  they  are  chiefly  training  schools 
for  the  so-called  "liberal  professions,"  the  membere  of 

1  See  Denifle,  "  Die  Universitaten  des  Mittelalters  bis  1400." 


6Q  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

which  arrogate  to  themselves  a  position  of  superiority 
to  all  other  professions  however  useful.  Even  in  this 
most  enlightened  country,  with  our  six  hundred  colleges 
and  universities,  only  one  person  in  a  thousand  receives 
a  college  education.  Nor,  indeed,  can  things  well  be 
otherwise,  so  long  as  our  colleges  and  universities  are 
open  only  to  those  who  possess  means  enabling  them 
to  devote  three  or  four  years  to  study  alone.  This  has 
been  so  clearly  recognized  that,  in  recent  years,  there 
has  sprung  up  what  is  called  "  University  Extension." 
The  effort  is,  indeed,  a  laudable  one ;  but  neither  has 
it  been  very  successful,  nor  are  its  aims  and  methods 
such  as  the  circumstances  demand.  It  merely  under- 
takes to  carry  the  defective  education  afforded  by  our 
universities,  on  a  reduced  scale,  into  a  somewhat  wider 
circle.  It  is  a  thing  of  shreds  and  patches,  without 
any  coherent  plan  or  any  idea  of  rounded  culture.  A 
course  of  lectures  upon  English  literature,  then  one  on 
chemistry,  followed  by  an  illustrated  one  on  the  geog- 
raphy of  the  Philippines,  are  not  likely  to  form  any  kind 
of  living,  growing  whole  in  the  student's  mind.  Uni- 
versity extension  we  most  assuredly  need,  but  not  the 
extension  of  our  present  universities,  or  of  their  anti- 
quated curricula,  in  fragmentary  or  diluted  form.  Let 
us  try  to  realize  what  we  do  need. 

In  the  mediseval  universities,  under  whose  influence 
higher  education  still  groans,  human  culture  was  not 
aimed  at.  Their  purpose  was  to  suppress  the  human, 
in  favor  of  the  divine.  When  the  opening  of  the  old 
Greek,  humanity-deifying  world  led,  in  the  Germanic 
Reformation,  to  the  rehabilitation  of  Reason,  and  in 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  67 

the  Italian  Renaissance,  to  reconciliation  with  Nature,^ 
then  the  culture  of  the  human,  in  its  two  aspects, 
Reason  and  Nature,  came  to  be  an  object,  and  to  call 
for  a  new  order  of  studies.  Unfortunately  the  advo- 
cates of  these  studies,  instead  of  founding  independent 
institutions  for  their  diffusion,^  placed  them  under  the 
wing  of  the  old  universities,  and  combined  them  with 
their  curricula.  Thus  arose  the  Protestant  universities,^ 
a  class  of  mongrel  institutions,  half  devoted  to  super- 
naturalism  and  professional  training,  half  to  human 
culture.  Unfortunately  the  training  remained  on  the 
old  supernatural  and  authoritative  basis,  and  confined 
itself  to  the  four  "liberal  professions,"  while  the  culture 
consisted  mainly  in  an  acquaintance,  often  extremely 
superficial,  with  ancient  Greek  and  Roman  literature.* 

1  The  mediaeval  view  is  admirably  expressed  by  the  words  which 
Goethe  puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  archbishop-chancellor  in  "  Faust" 

(Part  II)  : 

Nature  and  Intellect  —  they  are  not  named  to  Christians. 

For  doing  so,  we  burn  atheists, 

Because  such  speeches  are  most  dangerous. 

Nature  is  sin,  Intellect  is  devil. 

Between  them  they  foster  Doubt, 

Their  misshapen  mongrel  offspring. 
The  whole  masquerade  scene  {Mummenschanz)  is  intended  to  em- 
body the  transition  from  the  mediaeval  world  of  authority  and  mili- 
tarism to  the  modern  world  of  freedom,  reason,  nature,  and  industry. 

2  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  attempted  to  do  this  in  his  Platonic  Academy, 
but  he  found  few  imitators.     The  church  was  still  too  strong. 

3  Even  the  Catholic  universities,  especially  those  directed  by  the 
Jesuits,  were  deeply  affected  by  the  Renaissance.  The  Dominican 
Denifle,  in  carrying  his  history  of  the  mediseval  universities  only  up 
to  1400,  fully  recognizes  this. 

4  With  this  was  coupled,  in  Italy  and  elsewhere,  an  attempt  to 
imitate  old  Greek  morals  even  in  their  worst  aberrations.  See  the 
first  conversation  between  Faust  and  Wagner  in  Goethe's  "Faust." 


68  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

This  state  of  things  has,  to  a  large  extent,  continued  even 
down  to  the  present  day,  and  in  America  as  much  as 
anywhere.  Here  a  very  large  number  of  colleges  and 
universities  are  still  in  the  hands  of  religious  sects, 
or  are  influenced  by  them ;  the  education  they  give  is 
mostly  confined  to  the  "  liberal  professions,"  while  the 
culture  they  offer  consists  mainly  in  acquaintance  with 
"classical"  authors,  as  they  are  called.^ 

It  is  evident  enough  that  no  "extension"  of  insti- 
tutions of  this  sort  can  meet  the  needs  of  democracy 
at  the  present  day.  They  do  not  offer  the  education 
demanded  by  the  great  body  of  the  people.  The  insti- 
tutions demanded  must,  in  contradistinction  to  these,  do 
three  things :  (1)  they  must  eschew  all  supernaturalism 
and  authority,  and  take  their  stand  upon  nature  and  sci- 
ence; (2)  they  must  draw  a  clear  distinction  between 
culture  and  professional  training,  and  see  to  it  that  the 
former  is  conceived  in  the  light  of  a  sound  philosophy, 
is  suited  to  the  needs,  and  brought  within  the  reach,  of 
every  citizen ;  (3)  they  must  extend  the  latter  to  all 
professions  that  need  special  training,  and  do  their  best 
to  blot  out  the  invidious  and  undemocratic  distinction 
between  liberal  and  illiberal  professions.^ 

1  There  are,  indeed,  exceptions  to  tliis  rule,  universities  in  wliicli 
an  attempt  is  made  to  keep  pace  with  the  progress  of  science  and 
thouglit;  but  hardly  any  even  of  these  are  free  from  the  influence 
of  supernaturalism,  and  not  one  clearly  distinguishes  between  pro- 
fessional training  and  culture. 

2  If  this  cannot  be  done,  the  term  "liberal "  ought  to  be  applied  to 
all  those  professions  that  add  to  human  wealth  or  well-being,  and  the 
term  "illiberal"  to  all  that  do  not, —  to  stock  speculation,  whisky 
distilling,  gem  cutting,  and  all  such  as  minister  to  vice  or  vanity. 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  69 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  dwell  upon  these  three  points ; 
they  speak  for  themselves.  It  is  surely  clear  that  the 
institutions  needed  in  a  democracy  are  such  as  shall 
wipe  out  all  the  unhrothering  distinctions  that  divide 
sect  from  sect,  and  shall  use  every  effort  to  secure  for 
the  whole  body  of  the  people  intellectual,  moral,  politi- 
cal, and  economic  freedom. 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  People's  or  Breadwinners' 
University  which  our  circumstances  demand  must  con- 
sist of  two  parts;  (1)  a  College  for  Culture,  and  (2)  a 
Polytechnic  Institute  ^  for  Professional  Training.  Let 
us  consider  the  nature  of  (a)  the  Culture,  and  (5)  the 
Training  which  these  must,  respectively,  give  in  order 
to  be  truly  efficient. 

a.  Culture 

Culture,  it  is  obvious,  must  extend  to  the  whole 
human  being,  body  and  soul,  and  to  all  their  functions. 
It  should  never  be  forgotten  that  it  is  difference  of 
culture,  far  more  than  difference  of  wealth  or  position, 
that  separates  man  from  man  and  class  from  class. 

Body  culture  includes  health,  strength,  grace,  and 
dexterity,  which  are  acquired,  respectively,  through 
hygienics,  gymnastics,  deportment,  and  manual  train- 
ing. The  whole  of  these  should  be  taught  in  the  lower 
schools ;  but  they  must  be  continued  in  the  Breadwin- 
ners' University  —  the  first  three  in  the  College,  the  last 
in  the  Polytechneum.    In  the  department  of  Hygienics 

I  Why  not  say,  shortly,  "Polytechneum"  {iroXvrexvetov),  as  the 
Greeks  do  ? 


70  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

pupils  will  be  taught  what  to  eat  and  drink,  how  to  pre- 
pare it,  and  when  and  in  what  quantities  to  take  it.^ 
They  will  be  taught  when  and  how  to  sleep  and  how  to 
avoid  all  those  excesses  which  weaken  and  break  down 
the  nervous  system.  They  will  be  taught  how  to  avoid 
the  evils  of  unsanitary  homes  and  unsanitary  dressing. 
No  one  who  has  not  looked  into  the  matter  knows  how 
much  the  working  classes  suffer  from  lack  of  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  hygiene.  Ill-fed,  ill-clad,  accustomed  to 
breathe  impure  air,  they  are  unable  to  do  their  best  work, 
and  are  wont  to  be  sour  and  ill-tempered.  Look  at  many 
of  the  young  people  in  the  streets  and  note  what  com- 
plexions they  have.  That  means  bad  food,  bad  digestion, 
bad  air,  bad  care.  It  may  be  said  that  good  food  costs 
too  much ;  but  that  is  only  half  true.  There  are  many 
inexpensive  foods  that  are  excellent ;  and  even  dear  food 
is  often  the  cheapest  in  the  long  run.  All  this  will  be 
explained  in  the  class  in  Hygienics.  In  the  class  in  Gym- 
nastics every  exercise  will  be  taught  that  can  impart 
strength  and  suppleness  to  the  body,  and  make  it  the 
ready  instrument  of  the  soul.  The  practice  of  Gym- 
nastics should  be  continued  throughout  the  entire  life, 
in  order  to  insure  readiness  of  action.  What  is  more 
unbecoming  than  high  or  stooping  shoulders,  a  side- 
ling or  rolling  gait,  a  slow,  ungainly  movement  of 
hands  and  feet,  a  general  looseness  and  feebleness  of 
the  whole  frame?  And  these  things  are  not  only  unbe- 
coming, but  they  also  go  far  to  unfit  their  victims  for 
skilled  labor  and  efficient  work.    Gymnastics,  it  should 

1  For  the  theory  and  practice  of  cooking  they  will  have  to  go  to 
the  Polytechneum. 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  71 

be  remembered,  are  a  great  aid  to  hygiene,  if  they  do 
not  degenerate  into  athletics,  which  are  often  extremely 
unhygienic,^  not  to  say  brutalizing.  In  the  class  in 
Deportment  everything  will  be  done  to  train  the  body 
in  ease,  dignity,  and  grace,  and  impart  refinement  of 
manners.  It  is,  to  a  large  extent,  the  lack  of  these  that 
unfits  the  uncultivated  man  for  mingling  with  cultivated 
people.  In  their  society  he  feels  awkward  and  bashful. 
He  feels  that  everybody  is  looking  at  him.  He  does  not 
know  how  to  act  at  table,  in  a  drawing-room,  in  a  pubhc 
assembly,  and  so  on.  The  man  of  boorish  manners,  who 
talks  loud,  uses  slang,  puts  his  elbows  on  the  table,  and 
eats  with  his  knife,  cannot  expect  to  be  a  welcome  guest 
among  refined  people.  These,  no  doubt,  seem  little  things 
and  they  are ;  but  they  are  big  enough  to  separate  class 
from  class,  which  is  not  a  little  thing.  There  is  no  rea- 
son in  the  world  why  men  and  women  who  have  to  earn 
their  living  by  manual  labor  should  not  be  as  refined  in 
manners  and  bearing  as  any  other  class  of  the  people. 
It  is,  largely,  the  lack  of  this  refinement  that  makes  so 
many  of  them  willing  to  live  in  squalor  and  that  makes 
the  other  classes  look  down  upon  them  as  inferiors,  and 
their  employers  treat  them  as  mere  "  hands."  ^ 

1  Aristotle  told  his  contemporaries :  "  It  is  no  slight  evidence  of  the 
fact  that  violent  exercise  impedes  growth,  that  there  are  not  more  than 
two  or  three  examples  on  record  [in  450  years !]  of  persons  having  been 
victorious  in  tlie  Olympic  games  both  as  boys  and  as  men."  —  "  Poli- 
tics," VIII,  4 ;  1338  ^  44  seq. 

2  Old  people  in  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  delight  to  tell  of  the  time,  in 
the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  the  mill  workers  were 
ladies  and  gentlemen.  Lowell  Island  received  its  name  from  being 
their  summer  resort.     Things  are  different  now. 


72  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

Soul  culture  must  extend  to  all  the  three  faculties  or 
aspects  of  the  soul  —  the  intellect,  the  affections,  and  the 
will  —  and  be  such  as  to  develop  these  harmoniously  to 
their  full  extent.  Our  present  schools  and  universities 
do  little  more  than  attempt  to  train  the  first  of  these, 
leaving  the  other  two  to  take  care  of  themselves.  The 
result  is  that  the  affections  and  wills  even  of  those  few 
who  receive  a  university  education  remain  in  the  condi- 
tion of  mere  caprice,  undisciplined  and  misdirected.  In 
the  Breadwinners'  University  not  only  the  intellect,  but 
also  the  affections  and  the  will  must  be  educated  and 
trained.     Let  us  consider  these  faculties  in  this  order. 

1.  The  Intellect.  What  sort  of  education  shall  the 
intellect  of  the  breadwinner  receive?  In  attempting 
to  answer  this  question,  I  am  assuming  that  all  those 
who  desire  higher  education  have  already  acquired  the 
lower  branches  which  the  state  socialistically  provides 
in  the  common  schools;  that  they  can  read,  write,  and 
cipher ;  that  they  know  something  of  geography,  physical 
and  political,  grammar,  physical  science,  music,  drawing, 
etc.  What  higher  studies  shall  they  undertake  ?  The 
answer  seems  obvious :  those  studies  which  shall  show 
them  their  place  in  the  great  drama  of  nature  and  his- 
tory and  the  part  they  have  to  play  in  it.  This  is  what 
we  mean  by  imparting  culture.  The  man  who  knows 
what  he  is,  whence  he  is,  whither  he  is  going,  how  he  is 
related  to  the  world  and  his  fellows,  is  the  cultured  man. 
He  may  not  know  Sanskrit  or  Arabic,  or  even  Greek 
and  Latin ;  he  may  know  very  little  of  chemistry,  bot- 
any, or  astronomy,  and  nothing  of  quaternions ;  yet  he 
will  have  the  essential  things.     All  the  studies  I  have 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  73 

named  are  important,  but  they  are  not  essential  to  cul- 
ture. Now  what  are  the  sciences  that  teach  us  our  place 
and  part  in  the  world  ?  They  may  all  be  included  under 
one  —  the  science  of  evolution.  Our  place  in  the  world 
is  our  place  in  the  process  of  evolution.  What  we  are 
consists  of  what  we  have  done  and  what  we  are  going 
to  do.  But  the  sciences  of  what  we  have  done  and 
are  going  to  do  are  two,  —  history  and  sociology,  —  the 
former  supplying  the  facts,  and  the  latter  the  theory  of 
the  facts.  History  includes  not  merely  the  evolution 
of  humanity,  but  the  whole  course  of  evolution  —  the 
story  of  the  world;  and  sociology,  which  is  the  true  phi- 
losophy,!  shows  the  principles  by  which  this  evolution  is 
guided,  thus  enabling  us  individually  to  play  our  part 
in  it.  The  facts  of  history  may  be  classed  under  vari- 
ous heads,  such  as  natural  and  cultural ;  and  these  again 
may  be  subdivided,  the  former  into  astronomical,  chem- 
ical, geological,  biological,  psychological,  etc. ;  the  latter 
into  religious,  ethical,  political,  economic,  aesthetic,  etc. 
But  all  these  divisions  are  made  merely  for  convenience 
of  treatment,  and  the  science  of  sociology  shows  that 
they  are  all  but  aspects  of  one  eternal  process,  in  which 
each  of  us  has  an  eternal  part  to  play. 

I  know  nothing  more  inspiring  than  the  world  view  to 
which  a  true  and  exhaustive  sociology  leads.  It  is,  in 
truth,  religion  made  scientific ;  for  what  else  has  religion 
ever  been  but  a  view  of  man's  relations  to  the  society  of 
beings  that  form  his  environment  and  of  his  duties  in 

1  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  day  is  past  when  philosophy  could  mean 
a  system  built  up  by  a  dialectic  process  and  imposed  upon  fact.  Such 
philosophy  was  mere  disguised  theology,  which  is  but  another  name 
for  mythology. 


74  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

these  relations  ?  In  these  days  when,  in  the  pitiless  glare 
of  scientific  research,  the  old  unscientific  world  views 
which  formed  the  basis  of  earlier  religions  are  passing 
away,  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  they  should 
be  replaced  by  a  scientific  one.  Unless  this  is  done,  reli- 
gion, which  lends  to  life  all  the  sublimity  and  consecra- 
tion it  has,  must  disappear,  and  life  become  vulgar,  sordid, 
selfish,  and  frivolous,  as,  indeed,  it  is  obviously  becoming 
at  present,  just  for  want  of  such  a  world  view.  Kant 
once  said :  "  Two  things  move  me  to  ever  greater  awe : 
the  starry  heaven  above  and  the  moral  law  within." 
There  is  one  thing  more  awe-inspiring  than  either  of 
these,  one  thing  that  includes  them  both  and  much  more, 
—  the  spectacle  of  the  process  of  the  world  through 
beginningless,  endless  years,  a  process  which  embraces 
the  starry  heavens  and  the  moral  heavens  alike.  History, 
in  its  full  and  original  sense  (laropia),  is  the  record  of 
all  this,  of  the  gradual  ascent  from  matter  to  mind,  from 
sense  and  desire  to  intelligence  and  love  and  will.  And 
the  record  must  be  complete  if  we  are  to  understand  our- 
selves and  guide  our  lives  aright.  We  must  first  know 
our  relations  to  the  subhuman  world,  to  minerals,  plants, 
and  animals  of  all  grades ;  for,  indeed,  we  are  related  to 
them  all,  and  are  cousins  to  birds,  serpents,  fishes,  and 
apes;  then  our  relations  to  the  starry  heavens,^  and 

1  Man  is  all  symmetry, 
Full  of  proportions,  one  limb  to  another, 

And  all  to  all  the  world  besides : 
Each  part  may  call  the  farthest,  brother  : 
For  head  with  foot  hath  private  amity, 
And  both  with  moons  and  tides. 

George  Herbert,  "Man." 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  75 

finally  our  relations  to  our  fellow  human  beings.  We 
must  follow  the  gradual  progress  of  man  up  from  the 
earliest  dawn  of  intelligence;  from  the  lowest  savage 
condition,  when  he  knew  not  the  use  of  fire  or  weapons, 
up  through  the  stone  age,  the  bronze  age,  the  iron  age. 
We  must  follow  the  growth  of  primitive  societies,  at 
first  small  and  weak,  on  to  ever  larger  combinations,  — 
villages,  towns,  cities,  kingdoms,  empires.  We  must 
stndy  the  histories  of  Chaldea,  Assyria,  Babylonia, 
Egypt,  Media,  Persia,  of  the  Hebrews,  Greeks,  Romans, 
and  all  the  rest,  down  to  our  own  day.  Then  we  shall 
see  that  it  is  all  one  great  drama,  in  which  the  histories 
of  those  different  peoples  are  but  so  many  acts  or  scenes. 
And  what  a  drama  it  is,  with  its  heroes  and  saints,  its 
martyrs  and  conquerors,  its  merchants  and  statesmen, 
its  poets  and  sages,  its  prophets  and  messiahs !  What 
interest  arises  as  we  watch  and  comprehend  it  I 

And  we  are  the  outcome  of  all  this.  We  each  bear 
in  our  bodies  and  souls  the  result  of  the  entire  process. 
We  are  the  sum  of  the  whole  Past ;  the  whole  Past  is 
needed  to  explain  us;  and,  for  that  matter,  the  whole 
future  also.  We  were  born  yesterday,  so  to  speak; 
but  our  history  goes  back  to  the  beginning  of  things. 
I  cannot  fully  answer  the  question  What  am  I?  with- 
out knowing  the  whole  of  History  and  Sociology.  I 
cannot  understand  or  properly  appreciate  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  that  flower  of  the  ages, 
except  on  the  same  condition.  Why  are  we  so  devoted 
to  freedom,  and  why  do  we  look  down  upon  nations 
like  Russia  and  Turkey  that  are  not  free?  History 
and  Sociology  alone  can  tell  us.     And  how  inspiring 


76  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

Sociology  is  !  How  instructive  it  is  to  follow  the  phases 
of  religion,  ethics,  economics,  politics,  etc.,  from  the 
dawn  of  culture  to  our  own  day !  How  interesting  each 
new  discovery  in  archaeology,  in  language,  in  mythol- 
ogy, becomes  to  us  I  In  the  light  of  such  study  how 
plain  the  meaning  of  the  movements  of  the  present  day 
is  —  of  socialism,  anarchism,  and  the  rest !  Were  it 
not  that  History  and  Sociology  are  badly  taught  in  our 
schools  and  colleges,  taught  in  a  fragmentary,  unsys- 
tematic, and  ungenetic  way,  these  movements  would  be 
seen  to  be  mere  reversions  to  primitive  conditions.  It 
is  quite  usual  to  begin  the  study  of  History  with  the 
history  of  the  United  States,  and  of  Sociology  with  the 
works  of  Herbert  Spencer.  As  well  might  we  begin 
the  study  of  Mathematics  with  the  differential  calculus, 
or  Manual  Training  with  the  construction  of  a  steam 
engine !  In  the  Breadwinners'  Colleges  of  the  future 
these  sciences  must  be  taught  so  as  to  reveal  the  whole 
process  of  evolution  in  which  alone  the  different  phases 
"are  intelligible. 

To  draw  up  a  course  of  study  for  a  Breadwinners' 
College  is  not  easy ;  but  the  following  may  be  regarded 
as  a  first  attempt : 

1.  Outline  of  the  Course  of  Evolution,  including  Philosophy 
of  Evolution. 

2.  The    Circle    of    the    Sciences    (Encyclopcedie),    including 
Doctrine  of  Method. 

3.  Outlines  of  Universal  History  and  Sociology. 

4.  Comparative  Religion,  including  Philosophy  of  Religion. 

5.  Comparative  Ethics,  including  Philosophy  of  Ethics. 

6.  Comparative  Politics,  including  Political  Philosophy. 

7.  Comparative  Literature,  including  Theory  of  Criticism. 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  77 

8.  Comparative  Art,  including  Philosophy  of  -Esthetics. 

9.  History  and  Philosophy  of  Economics. 

10.  History  of  Discoveries  and  Inventions,  and  Influence  of 
these. 

11.  History  and  Philosophy  of  Education. 

12.  Comparative  Philology,  including  Philosophy  of  Language. 

13.  History  of  Philosophy  and  Philosophic  Concepts, 

11.  Outlines  of  Psychology,  including  History  of  Psychological 
Theories. 

It  is  obvious,  I  think,  that  any  person  pursuing  such 
a  curriculum  as  this  would,  at  the  end,  have  a  fair  con- 
ception of  the  process  of  the  world  he  lives  in  and  of 
his  own  place  in  it.  He  would,  moreover,  have  his 
horizon  greatly  widened,  his  interests  multiplied  and 
deepened,  and  his  life  lifted  above  the  narrow,  sordid 
cares  of  the  present.  He  would  no  longer  be  the 
victim  of  every  social  and  political  quack  who  had  a 
nostrum  to  advertise.  But,  of  course,  it  will  be  said 
that  such  a  curriculum  is  far  beyond  the  intellectual 
reach  of  the  great  body  of  wage-earners.  To  this  I 
can  only  reply  that,  in  my  belief,  based  upon  a  pretty 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  working  classes,  it  is 
a  profound  mistake.  Everything  depends  upon  how 
knowledge  is  presented.  If  the  above  curriculum  were 
presented  in  dry  academic  lectures,  I  admit  that  it  could 
not  be  followed  by  many  of  the  breadwinners ;  but  that 
is  the  poorest  way  of  presenting  knowledge,  and  there 
is  no  necessity  for  so  presenting  it.  As  Froebel  is  never 
tired  of  telling  us,  all  true  education  comes  through 
self-activity.  The  teacher  who  does  least  himself,  and 
makes  his  pupils  do  most,  is  the  best  teacher.  .  Let  an 
instructor  take  any  one  of  the  above  subjects,  say  the 


78  EDUCATION  OF   THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

first,  and  let  him,  after  a  brief,  simple,  introductory  talk, 
divide  it  into  topics,  or  subjects  for  essays,  assigning 
one  of  these  to  each  of  his  pupils,  and  telling  him  where 
—  in  what  books  or  museums  —  the  necessary  informa- 
tion may  be  found.  Then,  at  future  meetings,  let  the 
pupils  read  their  essays,  carefully  corrected  by  the  in- 
structor, before  the  class,  and  the  class  freely  discuss 
them,  and  it  will  be  found  that  there  is  no  lack  of  ability 
or  interest  among  the  breadwinners.^  If  the  instructor 
have  time  —  and  why  should  he  not  ?  —  he  will  do  well 
to  accompany  his  pupils  to  museums  and  galleries,  and 
on  excursions  into  city  and  country,  that  they  may  make 
acquaintance  with  facts  and  nature  face  to  face. 

The  first  essays  of  the  breadwinners  attempting  to 
write  on  scientific  subjects  will,  no  doubt,  in  most  cases, 
be  crude  and  styleless,  and  their  reading  indistinct  and 
hesitating ;  but  these  defects  will  soon  pass  away,  and 
the  sons  of  toil  will  have  learned  to  write  and  read,  in 
addition  to  the  science  acquired.  What  is  more,  they 
will  have  learned  to  take  interest  in  books,  in  nature, 
and  in  social  conditions. 

The  above  curriculum,  which  would  extend  over 
three  or  four  years,  might  be  interspersed  with  other 
studies  in  particular  departments  of  literature  and  sci- 
ence, care  being  taken  that  these  entered  into  integral 
relations  with  the  whole  and  contributed  to  a  single 
world-view.  Their  place  in  the  "Circle  of  the  Sciences  " 
should  be  clearly  marked. 

So  much  for  the  culture  of  the  intellect. 

1  It  is  needless  to  say  that,  for  their  sake,  all  public  libraries  and 
museums  should  be  open  every  evening  and  every  holiday. 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  79 

2.  The  Affections.  How  shall  the  affections  of  the 
breadwinners  be  elicited  in  such  a  way  that  they  shall 
distribute  their  intensity  in  proportion  to  the  true,  spirit- 
ual worth  of  things  ?  That  is  the  all-important  question ; 
for,  as  the  ancients  ^  and  Dante  ^  saw  clearly,  all  moral 
evil  arises  from  a  false  distribution  of  the  affections,  all 
moral  worth. from  a  true  distribution  of  them.  The  fact 
is,  the  affections  or  desires  are  the  most  fundamental 
part  of  us,  more  primitive  than  intellect  and  will ;  and 
so  long  as  they  are  not  right,  nothing  is  right.  ''Out 
of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of  life." 

It  is  a  well-known  law  that  every  faculty  is  developed 
through  its  proper  object  or  "  good,"  —  sight  by  things 
visible,  intelligence  by  things  knowable,  will  by  things 
doable,  and  so  on.  It  follows  that  the  affections  are 
developed  by  things  desirable  or  lovable,  and  that,  if 
they  are  to  be  properly  developed,  things  must  be 
adhered  to  or  appreciated  by  them  in  the  order  of  their 
desirability,  that  is,  their  worth  for  moral  life.  The 
question  is.  How  can  this  be  accomplished?  Nobility 
is  more  desirable  than  wealth :  how  can  this  be  brought 
home  to  the  affections  ?  This  is  a  very  different  ques- 
tion from.  How  can  an  intellectual  apprehension  or  con- 
viction of  this  be  imparted?  Intellectual  convictions 
are  feeble  motives  to  action,  compared  with  affections. 
A  man  who  loves  nobility  will  be  far  more  noble  than 
the  man  who  knows  that  nobility  is  lovable.    How  then 

1  iEschylus  attributes  all  -wrongdoing  to  TrapaKoird,  false  coinage, 
that  is,  the  impressing  of  a  false  affectional  stamp  upon  things.  See 
the  wonderful  passage  in  "Agamemnon,"  222-224,  and  cf.  "Eumen- 
ides,"  329.  2  "Purgatory,"  XVII,  103  seq. 


80  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

shall  we  make  people  love  nobility  more  than  wealth? 
The  answer  is,  By  presenting  each  in  its  complete 
reality.  This  may  be  done  in  various  ways,  —  in  the 
home,  in  the  school,  in  the  course  of  practical  life,  —  but 
the  most  effective  way  is  through  art,  whose  function 
it  is  to  present  things  in  such  a  way  as  to  reveal  their 
true  meaning  or  moral  worth.  Dante's  "Hell"  and 
"  Purgatory,"  by  showing  the  true  nature  of  sin,  make 
it  very  unlovable,  while  his  "  Paradise,"  by  showing  the 
true  nature  of  righteousness,  makes  it  most  desirable. 
How  we  hate  hypocrisy  after  reading  '^  Measure  for 
Measure  " ;  reckless  ambition,  after  reading  "  Macbeth  "  ; 
indecision,  after  reading  "  Hamlet,"  and  so  on !  Who 
can  intelligently  look  at  the  Laocoon  group  without 
hating  sensual  vice  ;  or  at  the  Praxitelean  Hermes  with- 
out loving  the  spiritual  sympathy  that  longs  to  educate  ? 

The  modern  world  has  rarely  realized  the  function 
of  art,  and  hence  an  infinite  amount  of  nonsense  and 
sentimental  twaddle  has  been  spoken  and  written  about 
it ;  but  the  ancients,  especially  the  Greeks,  were  not  so 
blind.  Aristotle  saw  clearly  that  art  addresses  itself  to 
the  affections  (TrdOr],  TraOrjfjbara)  and  is  calculated  to  effect 
their  purification,^  that  is,  to  free  them  from  disorder, 
obtuseness,  and  exaggeration.  His  notions  regarding  the 
place  of  music  in  education  are  only  now  beginning  to  be 
appreciated.  I  may  perhaps  be  allowed  to  quote  here 
a  few  sentences  from  my  book  on  Greek  Education : 

"On  Music,  as  a  branch  of  study,  we  have  almost  a 
disquisition  from  the  pen  of  Aristotle.  The  question 
that  first  occupies  him  is.  What  is  the  use  of  music? 
1  Uepabovixa  KddapcLv,  "Poetics,"  C;  1449^  27  seq. 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  81 

Is  it  a  recreation,  an  occupation  for  cultured  leisure, 
or  a  gymnastic  for  the  soul  ?  It  is  all  three,  he  replies, 
and  would  deserve  study  for  the  sake  of  any  one  of 
them.  At  the  same  time,  its  chief  value  in  education 
lies  in  its  third  use.  Music  imparts  a  mental  habit; 
about  that  there  can  be  no  doubt.  For  example,  the 
Songs  of  Olympus  'render  the  soul  enthusiastic,  and 
enthusiasm  is  an  affection  of  the  soul's  habit.'  ^  Aris- 
totle reasons  in  this  way :  Music  is  capable  of  affecting 
us  with  all  kinds  of  pleasures  and  pains.  But  moral 
worth  at  bottom  consists  in  finding  pleasure  in  what  is 
noble,  and  pain  in  what  is  ignoble,  that  is,  in  a  correct 
distribution  of  affection.  But  in  good  music  the  strains 
that  give  pleasure  are  attached  to  the  ideas  that  are 
noble,  and  the  strains  that  give  pain  to  the  ideas  that  are 
ignoble;  hence,  by  a  natural  association,  the  pleasures 
and  pains  which  we  find  in  the  music  attach  themselves 
to  the  ideas  which  it  accompanies.  '  There  is  nothing 
that  we  ought  to  learn  and  practice  so  assiduously  as 
the  art  of  judging  correctly  and  of  taking  delight  in 
gentlemanly  bearing  and  noble  deeds.  And,  apart  from 
the  natural  manifestations  of  the  passions  themselves, 
there  is  nothing  in  which  we  can  find  anger,  gentleness, 
courage,  self-control,  and  their  opposites,  as  well  as  the 
other  moods,  so  well  represented  as  in  rhythms  and 
songs.  This  we  all  know  by  experience ;  for  the  moods 
of  our  souls  change  when  we  listen  to  such  strains. 
But  the  practice  which  we  thus  receive  from  rhythms 
and  songs,  in  rejoicing  and  suffering  properly,  brings 
us  very  near  being  affected  in  the  same  way  by  the 
1  "Politics,"  VIII,  5;  1340^  10  seq. 


82  EDUCATION^  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

realities  themselves.  .  .  .  There  is  such  an  obvious 
difference  between  harmonies,  that  the  listeners  are 
affected  in  entirely  different  ways  by  them.  By  some 
they  are  thrown  into  a  kind  of  mournful  or  grave  mood, 
e.g.^  by  what  is  known  as  the  mixed  Lydian ;  by  others 
a  sentimental  turn  is  given  to  their  thoughts,  for  ex- 
ample, by  languid  harmonies;  while  there  is  another 
kind  that  especially  produces  balance  of  feeling  and  col- 
lectedness.  This  effect  is  confined  to  the  Doric  har- 
monies. The  Phrygian  harmonies  rouse  enthusiasm. 
These  are  correct  results  arrived  at  by  those  thinkers 
who  have  devoted  their  attention  to  this  branch  of  edu- 
cation—  results  based  on  actual  experience.  What  is 
true  of  harmonies  is  true  also  of  rhythms.'  "  ^ 

Let  me  parallel  this  by  a  few  quotations  from  a  living 
author : 

"Music  has  its  distinctive  place  in  education,  one 
which  no  other  study  can  fill.  The  chief  value  of  music 
to  the  child  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  opens  to  him  another 
avenue  of  expression,  revealing  to  himself  and  to  others 
new  possibilities.  The  time-worn  view  which  regarded 
music  as  an  accomplishment  only  is  fast  disappearing, 
and  the  most  progressive  educators  are  beginning  to 
realize  the  psychical  value  of  music,  and  to  recognize 
the  vital  relations  it  holds  to  general  education. 

"In  every  city  throughout  the  land  there  are  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  of  children,  woefully  ignorant  of 
the  wealth  and  power  of  their  own  inner  natures,  whose 
dream  of  happiness  is  to  have  instead  of  to  he.     Each 

1  "Politics,''  YIII,  5;   1340*  16  seq.  Davidson,  " JJristotle," 

pp.  191  seq. 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  83 

of  these  children  has  a  heart-voice  which,  in  its  power 
of  expression,  may  become  beautiful  beyond  belief.  .  .  . 

''If,  as  many  thinking  men  and  women  assert,  modern 
life  is  fast  becoming  too  material;  if  the  hopes  for  the 
future  are  in  the  rising  generation,  that,  in  education, 
increased  mental  and  physical  activities  may  be  allied 
to  the  higher  life-qualities  which  make  for  character; 
and  if,  as  herein  suggested,  this  heart  and  soul  life 
may  be  promoted  (even  in  play  conditions)  by  music 
and  song,  then  indeed  music's  distinctive  place  in 
education  is  one  of  the  highest  distinction.  .  .  . 

"  Let  this  series  of  circles  represent  the  pupil  .  .  .  the 
outer  division  his  ^  "^  actions  —  what  he  does  ; 
the  middle  one,  f /^^\\  ^^^  mentality  —  what 
he  thinks;  and  \\^  J  ^^^  center  7u.  5.%  — 
what    he    is.  \^^^y^ 

"  For  many  years  school  education  was  directed  almost 
exclusively  to  the  middle  division,  mentality.  As  a 
result  of  such  teaching  the  child  is  able  to  plan,  to 
calculate,  to  contrive,  perhaps  to  scheme.  Language  is 
his  to  reveal  himself,  but  it  is  also  his  for  concealment. 

"  To  be  sure  the  principles  of  the  kindergarten  and 
the  manual-training  school  have  been  widely  adopted, 
and  many  of  our  pupils  are  taught  to  do  as  well  as  to 
think.  In  this  way  their  mentality  is  channeled  to  the 
outer  light  of  action  —  a  very  wholesome  process. 

"As  yet,  however,  there  has  been  little  or  nothing 
done  for  the  center;  that  is,  no  direct  action.  This 
center  is  a  very  important  part  of  the  boy.  In  it, 
lyuig  latent,  are  germs  —  flower  germs  and  weed  germs 
also  —  that  you  his  parent  and  you   his    teacher  are 


84  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

ignorant  of,  as  far  as  he  is  concerned,  of  which  even 
he  himself  is  unconscious ;  weed  germs  that,  in  the 
fulhiess  of  time  and  under  the  stimuli  of  some  sudden 
temptations,  may  spring  up  and  even  challenge  for 
control  of  him. 

"Now  there  is  .  .  .  a  distinct  correspondence  between 
the  inner  of  music  and  the  inner  of  the  boy ;  between 
what  are  known  as  '  time-beats '  in  music  and  the  boy's 
impulses.  By  cultivating  this  relationship  to  vital 
activity  his  impulses  may  be  developed;  more  than 
this,  they  may  be  regulated  —  steadied  if  they  are 
flighty,  stimulated  if  they  are  stolid.  .  .  . 

"  Song  is  the  vocal  utterance  of  the  self,  the  inner, 
vital  self,  complete,  individual,  unique.  ...  I  am  myself, 
unique.  .  .  .  This  is  our  glory ;  it  is  also  our  responsi- 
bility.    The  utterance  of  this  inner,  vital  self  is  song. 

"And  what  is  it  all  for?     Not  for  self,  but  for  others. 
.  .  .  Music  is  the  voice  of  love;  but  the  love  which 
music  voices  is  not  maudlin  sentiment,  nor  gross  desire, 
nor  narrow  attachment.  .  .  . 
\^"Art,  like  love,  must  be  all  embracing. 

"A  few  supersensitives  gathering  themselves  away 
from  the  common  herd  may  ripen  and  rot  in  their  selfish 
culture.     This  has  been  proved  over  and  over  again."  ^ 

Here  are  testimonies  (and  it  would  be  easy  to  multi- 
ply them),  from  both  the  ancient  world  and  the  modern, 
to  the  power  of  music  in  regulating  the  affections. 
What  is  true  of  music  is  true  of  the   other  arts,  in 

1  William  L.  Tomlins,  "Music:  Its  Nature  and  Influence,  The 
First  of  a  Series  of  Lesson-talks  on  Music  in  its  Relation  to .  the  Art 
of  Living." 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  UgK^;^        85 

different  degrees.  Aristotle,  in  his  "  Poetics,"  has  shown 
the  power  and  function  of  tragedy,  and  testimony  might 
be  cited  in  favor  of  the  rest.  We  all  know  to  what 
extent  modern  life  is  influenced  by  literature,  and 
especially  by  novels  and  stories  which  appeal  to  the 
affections.  Indeed,  literature,  the  most  comprehensive 
of  the  arts,  ought  to  be  the  great  trainer  of  the  affec- 
tions, and  would  undoubtedly  be  such  were  it  not  so 
stupidly  taught  in  our  schools  and  colleges.^  In  brief, 
if,  following  Plato,  we  distinguish  in  the  human  soul 
a  rational  part  and  an  irrational  part,  we  may  say  that, 
while  the  former  is  educated  by  the  sciences,  the  latter 
is  trained  by  the  fine  arts. 

But,  after  all,  just  as  science  is  only  distilled  intel- 
lectual experience,  so  the  fine  arts  are  only  distilled 
emotional  or  affectional  experience.  And  just  as  there 
is,  at  the  present  day,  a  movement  to  limit  book-science, 

1  Some  years  ago,  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York  pub- 
lished an  Examination  Bulletin  on  College-Entrance  English,  con- 
taining examination  papers  in  English  Literature  from  some  thirty 
colleges  and  universities.  A  better  display  of  all  lack  of  sense  of  the 
meaning  and  purpose  of  literature  it  would  not  be  easy  to  find.  Here 
are  the  questions  which  one  professor  puts  to  his  students  on  The 
Merchant  of  Venice :  "a.  Give  the  sources  of  the  play.  b.  Give  the  plot 
of  the  play.  c.  Characterize  Bassanio,  Portia,  and  Shy  lock.  d.  What 
part  does  Launcelot  take  in  the  play  ?  e.  Describe  the  casket  scene. 
f.  What  makes  it  comedy  ?  g.  Explain  '  You  stand  within  his  dan- 
ger, do  you  not  ? '  4  :  1,180.  Define  the  words  '  argosy,'  '  gaberdine,' 
'pageant.'"  One  wonders  how  much  training  for  the  affections  is 
implied  in  the  knowledge  necessary  to  answer  these  questions.  And 
they  are  not  worse  than  many  others.  Some  professors  show  an  igno- 
rance of  even  elementary  English.  One  asks  his  examinees  to  '  cor- 
rect' 'That  is  the  boy's  fault,  who  is  not  at  school  to  day.'  Why 
not  correct  Shakespeare's  '  Pour  in  sow's  blood,  that  hath  eaten  her 
nine  farrow'  ? 


86  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

and  to  accord  a  considerable  space  in  intellectual  edu- 
cation to  direct  contact  with  nature,  so  the  affectional 
culture  derivable  from  the  fine  arts  should  be  supple- 
mented by  emotional  training  through  direct  contact 
with  the  life  of  man.  The  students  in  the  Bread- 
winners' Colleges,  while  emotionally  realizing  the 
works  of  Homer,  Dante,  Shakespeare,  Goethe,  Phidias, 
Praxiteles,  Da  Vinci,  and  the  rest  of  the  mighty,  should 
be  using  the  emotional  culture  thus  gained  to  penetrate 
the  life  about  them,  its  joys  and  sorrows,  its  loves  and 
aspirations,  and  thus  to  enter  into  sympathetic,  that  is 
normal,  relations  with  their  fellow-men.  And  no  one 
will  have  more  ample  opportunities  for  this  than  just 
these  students.  More  than  almost  any  one,  they  are 
brought  face  to  face  with  *' life's  prime  needs  and 
agonies,"  and  thus  have  a  chance  for  a  better  edu- 
cation than  any  one  else.^  There  is  nothing  that  is 
more  truly  educative,  nothing  that  better  insures  a  cor- 
rect distribution  of  the  affections,  than  philanthropic 
work  of  the  right  sort,  undertaken,  not  in  a  spirit  of 
condescension  or  missionariness,  but  in  simple  loving- 
kindness,  and  reduced  to  a  habit.  The  last  clause 
deserves  to  be  emphasized;  for  it  should  never  be  for- 
gotten that  in  the  training  of  the  affections  habit  plays 

1  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  only  tliose  works  of  art  and  literature 
which  are  directly  dictated  by  nature  appeal  to  us  deeply.  Shakes- 
peare and  Burns  are  forever  fresh  ;  Milton  and  Pope,  who  drew  their 
inspiration  from  classical  literature,  are  already  consigned  to  the  mu- 
seum of  literary  history.  Human  experience  is  the  great  art  school. 
"  We  learn  in  suffering  what  we  teach  in  song,"  said  "L.  E.  L."  It 
is  perhaps  the  greatest  drawback  to  wealth  that  it  cuts  its  possessors 
off  from  the  most  educative  experience. 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  8T 

a  very  important  part.     We  love  what  we  are  familiar 
with,  and  what  we  can  do  easily. 

3.  The  Will.  When  the  body  is  strong  and  healthy, 
when  the  intelligence  is  carefully  trained  through  study 
and  contact  with  nature,  and  when  the  affections  are  dis- 
tributed in  accordance  with  the  true  worth  of  things, 
then  there  will  be  little  need  to  worry  over  the  training 
of  the  will.  The  will,  indeed,  is  little  more  than  the 
combined  expression  of  the  rational  and  irrational  ele- 
ments in  the  soul,  in  other  words,  the  sum  of  the 
irrational  impulses  directed  by  rational  insight.  The 
breadwinner  is  a  privileged  being  as  far  as  will  train- 
ing is  concerned;  for  his  daily  labor  calls  for  almost 
continiial  exertion  of  will.  If  in  the  Breadwinners'  Col- 
leges there  is  to  be  a  will  trainer,  his  chief  function  will 
be  to  select  and  assign  tasks  suited  to  the  intellectual 
and  affectional  status  of  his  different  pupils.  Such  tasks 
will  be  the  more  effective  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
of  patience  and  self-denial  they  call  for ;  that  is,  in  pro- 
portion as  they  induce  the  individual  to  prefer  his  all- 
inclusive,  to  his  all-exclusive,  self,  and  to  sacrifice  his 
fragmentary  self  of  the  moment  to  the  fully  organized 
self  of  his  entire  existence.  To  live  for  all  men  and  for 
eternity  is  to  live  a  divine  life,  here  and  now.  So  much 
for  Culture  and  Culture  Colleges.  There  is  nothing  in 
the  smallest  degree  impractical  in  the  scheme  of  Bread- 
winners' Colleges  here  proposed.  Indeed,  we  see  it  in 
process  of  realization  in  France  at  the  present  moment. 
The  infamy  accruing  to  that  country  from  the  "  Dreyfus 
case "  roused  three  different  classes  of  her  people  — 
Wealth,  Wisdom,  and  Work  —  to  ask  themselves  this 


88  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNEES 

question:  What  must  be  the  intellectual  and  moral 
condition  of  a  nation  in  which  such  things  can  be  done 
and  brave  publicity.  And  realizing  at  once  its  abject- 
ness  and  danger,  they  united  in  an  attempt  to  put  an 
end  to  it  by  diffusing  intellectual  and  moral  culture 
among  the  great  body  of  the  people,  that  previously 
had  been  left  in  ignorance,  or  to  the  tender  mercies  of 
the  daily  newspaper  and  the  priest.  Thus  have  come 
into  existence  in  a  very  brief  space  of  time  a  large 
number  of  so-called  "Popular  Universities"  (Universites 
Populaires).  What  the  French  have  done  we  certainly 
can  do,  and  ought  to  do.  If  their  intellectual  and  moral 
condition  is  fraught  with  peril,  ours  is  certainly  not 
encouraging.  Let  us  think  but  a  moment  of  the  con- 
dition of  our  chief  city,  governed  by  a  ring  of  vulgar 
adventurers,  whose  sole  aim,  by  their  own  confession,  is 
to  fill  their  own  pockets ;  who  protect  and  encourage 
the  coarsest  vices  that  they  may  fatten  on  the  blackmail 
levied  on  their  perpetrators;  who  bribe  and  are  bribed; 
for  whom  evil  is  good  and  good  evil!  Where  such 
things  can  boldly  flaunt  themselves,  there  is  surely  need 
for  popular  education.  Realizing  our  disgraceful  con- 
dition, our  better  men  and  women,  from  time  to  time, 
work  themselves  up  into  virtuous  fury,  and  demand 
legislation  and  other  external  contrivances  to  put  a  stop 
to  it,  never  realizing  that  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  any 
better  condition  until  the  people  are  better,  and  that 
they  will  not  be  better  until  they  are  better  educated. 
They  try  everything  but  the  one  thing  that  has  any 
})rospect  of  being  effectual.  As  the  people  are,  so  are 
their  rulers.     And  what  sort  of  rulers  are  people  likely 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  89 

to  choose,  a  large  number  of  whom  live  in  squalor  and 
poverty,  condemned  to  a  mean,  beggarly  world,  occupied 
with  sordid  material  interests,  unillumined  by  science, 
art,  philosophy,  or  history  ?  We  have  but  to  look  and 
see.  Surely,  then,  it  is  time  for  the  three  classes  of  the 
people  to  unite  to  found  Breadwinners'  Colleges. 

5.  Professional  Training 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  of  Culture,  which  opens  up 
to  the  worker  a  noble  world,  invites  him  to  come  in, 
and  renders  him  capable  in  body  and  soul  of  enjoying 
it  and  mingling  with  the  best.  It  is  the  glory  of  our 
nation  that  no  door  leading  to  anything  desirable  is 
closed  against  the  man  of  culture,  be  he  Jew  or  Gen- 
tile, rich  or  poor.  But  on  this  earth  of  ours  we  need 
not  only  culture  in  order  to  live  a  normal  human  life, 
but  also  the  means  of  living.  We  need  the  former  in 
order  to  live  well,  the  latter  in  order  to  live  at  all.  The 
higher  laws  and  needs  of  our  being  do  not  abrogate  the 
lower ;  they  come  not  to  destroy  but  to  fulfill.  Culture 
will  make  good  men  and  women,  good  sons  and  daugh- 
ters, good  husbands  and  wives,  good  fathers  and  mothers, 
good  neighbors  and  citizens,  and  so  on;  but  it  does 
not  make  good  mechanics,  merchants,  bankers,  physi- 
cians, lawyers,  teachers,  or  artists.  For  these  and  many 
other  professions,  none  of  which  are  essential  to  us  as 
human  beings  or  citizens,  there  is  needed  a  special  train- 
ing. Much  of  this  may  be,  and  is,  imparted  in  the 
actual  practice  of  the  different  industries ;  but  there  is 
much  that  cannot  be  so  imparted,  and  demands  special 


90  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

institutions.  These  are  at  present  demanded  for  another 
reason,  which  cannot  but  be  deplored.  The  labor 
unions  do  their  best  to  prevent  apprentices  from  learn- 
ing the  different  trades.  In  a  special  report  on  ''  Edu-  ( 
cation  in  the  Industrial  and  Fine  Arts  in  the  United 
States,"  issued  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion in  1892,  we  read:  "The  'Unions'  welcome  foreign 
born  and  bred  artisans,  but  throw  every  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  training  American  youths  to  become  skilled 
artisans.  By  this  policy  they  force  upon  the  attention 
of  educators  and  legislators  evidences  of  the  pressing 
need  that  exists  for  devising  some  practical  methods 
whereby  the  rising  generation  may  have  the  oppor- 
tunity hitherto  denied  them  of  acquiring  definite 
technical  training  in  skilled  industries."  ^ 

The  need  of  special  training  schools  for  the  "liberal 
professions"  is  universally  recognized;  but  there  is  no 
reason  why  these  should  be  regarded  as  exceptional 
among  so  many .2  So  true  is  this  that,  of  late  years, 
there  have  arisen,  in  considerable  numbers,  polytechnic 

1  P.  68.  In  a  footnote  on  p.  67  is  the  following  quotation  from  the 
Washington  Post :  "It  is  rather  hard  on  the  average  apprentice  in 
this  free  country  that  he  cannot  even  begin  to  learn  a  trade  without 
all  the  employees  in  the  shop  striking.  This  is  what  happened  a  few 
days  ago  at  the  glass  works  at  Sandwich,  Massachusetts.  An  appren- 
tice was  engaged  in  the  cutting  department,  when  the  workmen  felt 
aggrieved  and  walked  out.  This  is  both  absurd  and  cruel.  An 
apprentice  should  be  made  welcome,  and  helped  to  learn  his  trade 
as  soon  as  possible.  There  is  no  other  sensible  course  to  pursue. 
And  as  many  workingmen  persist  in  denying  apprentices  a  chance 
to  learn  a  trade,  public  schools  must  be  established  where  they  can 
be  taught  free  and  unmolested." 

2  In  London,  England,  "there  are  upward  of  four  thousand 
separate  industries." 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  91 

institutions  and  technical  schools,  offering  to  certain 
other  professions  the  needed  instruction.  According  to 
the  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Edu- 
cation for  1896-1897  there  were  at  that  time  forty-eight 
such  institutions  in  this  country.  In  addition  to  this,  the 
majority  of  colleges  and  universities  give  instruction  in 
some  of  the  following  subjects :  Agriculture,  Architect- 
ure, Civil  Engineering,  Sanitary  Engineering,  Dentistry, 
Pharmacy,  Veterinary  Medicine,  Pedagogy,  Domestic 
Science,  Military  Science,  Music,  Art,  Commerce.  All 
this  fails  to  help  the  great  body  of  the  wage-earners ; 
but  something  has  been  done  for  them  also.  On  p.  2279 
of  the  Report  just  referred  to,  we  read:  "In  1896  man- 
ual training  was  an  essential  feature  in  the  public-school 
course  of  ninety-five  cities.  In  359  institutions  other 
than  city  schools  there  is  training  which  belongs  in  a 
general  way  to  the  same  movement.  These  institutions 
embrace  almost  every  class  known  to  American  educa- 
tion, and  the  manual  features  vary  from  the  purely  edu- 
cational manual  training  of  the  Teachers'  College  in  New 
York  City  to  the  direct  trade  instruction  of  the  appren- 
tice schools."  The  number  of  "  manual  and  industrial 
training  schools,"  at  the  time  mentioned,  was  ninety-nine. 
It  is  unfortunate  that  in  this  Report  no  clear  distinc- 
tion is  drawn  between  manual  and  industrial  training, 
so  that  we  hardly  know  how  many  industrial  schools 
exist.  But  even  if  their  number  were  greater  than  it 
is,  they  would  not  meet  the  needs  of  the  great  body  of 
the  workers.  They  are  open  only  during  the  day,  and 
are  attended  only  by  persons  who  are  not  engaged  in 
bread  winning.     And  this  brings  us  to 


92  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

3.  The  higher  education  in  this  country  is  not  given 
under  such  circumstances  that  all  can  take  advantage  of 
it.  Nearly  all  of  its  institutions  —  colleges,  univer- 
sities, polytechnic  institutes,  technical  and  industrial 
schools  —  are  closed  against  the  breadwinners,  because 
they  are  occupied  with  their  work  during  the  day,  the 
only  time  when  these  institutions  are  open.  What  the 
breadwinners  need  is  evening  colleges  and  evening  poly- 
techneums.  The  feasibility  of  evening  colleges  may  be 
seen  in  the  work  of  the  London  Polytechnic,  of  the 
London  Working  Men's  College,  and  of  many  similar 
institutions  in  Great  Britain  —  "  Mechanics'  Institutes  " 
and  the  like.  That  evening  polytechneums  are  equally 
within  the  limits  of  possibility,  and  may  even  be  a  great 
success,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  they  are  a  success  in 
London  and  elsewhere.  It  is  needless  to  dwell  at  great 
length  on  this  subject,  the  facts  of  it,  and  the  way  out 
are  so  evident.  They  were  known  even  to  Luther,  who 
says :  "  My  opinion  is  that  we  must  send  boys  to 
school  one  or  two  hours  a  day,  and  have  them  learn 
a  trade  at  home  the  rest  of  the  time.  It  is  desirable 
that  these  two  occupations  go  side  by  side."  At  pres- 
ent it  is  clear  that  the  "  one  or  two  hours  "  must  be  in 
the  evening. 

Such  are  a  few  suggestions  toward  a  solution  of  the 
chief  educational  problem  which  the  nineteenth  century 
hands  over  to  the  twentieth.  There  is  little  time  left  for 
the  consideration  of  minor  problems,  such  as  the  train- 
ing of  efficient  teachers  for  all  grades  of  education ;  ^ 

1  See  an  admirable  article  on  "School  Reform"  by  Professor 
Miinsterberg  in  The  Atlantic  Monthly  for  May,  1900. 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  98 

the  arrangements  and  coordination  of  studies  in  view 
of  different  ends;  tlie  unifying  of  the  whole  course  of 
study  from  the  kindergarten  up  to  the  university;  the 
establishment  of  a  National  University  to  give  tone  and 
direction  to  the  whole  national  system  of  education,  etc. 
The  one  problem  which  above  all  others  cries  aloud 
for  solution,  and  which  it  will  be  one  of  the  chief  tasks 
of  the  twentieth  century  to  solve,  is  the  higher  educa- 
tion of  the  breadwinners.  This  education  is  absolutely 
necessary  not  only  for  the  well-being  of  the  breadwin- 
ners themselves,  but  for  the  safety  of  our  whole  nation 
and  its  democratic  institutions.  A  democracy  cannot 
long  be  sustained  by  an  ignorant  demos.  This,  indeed, 
is  already  becoming  manifest.  Our  labor  unions  have 
already  interfered  with  the  liberty  not  only  of  employ- 
ers and  of  the  public  generally,  but  also,  and  still  more, 
of  the  individual  workman.  Tyranny,  socialism,  and 
violent  anarchism,  with  their  glittering  Utopias,  are  find- 
ing adherents  among  the  workingmen.  The  political 
boss,  with  his  lying  promises  and  his  filthy  bribes,  finds 
many  of  them  an  easy  prey.  All  these  things  are  fraught 
with  serious  dangers  to  liberty,  and  they  are  all  due  to 
want  of  intellectual  and  moral  education.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  to  the  want  of  technical  training  that  is  due 
the  fact  that  a  very  large  number  of  our  people  are  un- 
able by  their  labor  to  give  to  society  an  equivalent  for 
a  decent  livelihood,  and  therefore  live  in  poverty  and 
squalor,  which  are  always  powerful  incentives  to  vice, 
crime,  and  rebellion.  To  the  lack  of  the  two  kinds  of  edu- 
cation combined  is  due,  in  a  word,  all  that  we  deplore  and 
all  that  we  fear  in  the  condition  of  the  breadwinners. 


94  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

And  for  this  condition  we  are  all  responsible.  We 
leave  a  large  number  of  them  without  intellectual  and 
moral  culture,  and  then  we  despise  them  because  they 
are  ignorant  and  vicious.  We  do  nothing  to  refine 
their  manners,  and  then  we  complain  because  they  are 
boorish  or  brutal.  We  do  not  train  them  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  political  economy  or  sociology,  and  then  we 
wonder  why  they  become  socialists,  anarchists,  or  nihil- 
ists. We  leave  them  unacquainted  with  their  political 
privileges  and  duties,  and  then  we  are  indignant  because 
they  sell  their  votes  for  a  glass  of  whisky.  We  con- 
sign them  to  dark,  cheerless,  comfortless  homes,  and 
then  we  berate  them  because  they  take  refuge  in  the 
gilded  saloon.  We  give  them  no  opportunity  for  the 
spiritual  delights  that  come  from  the  arts  and  sciences, 
and  then  we  scorn  them  because  they  seek  satisfaction 
in  rum  drinking  and  the  other  sensual  delights  of  the 
dive.  To  offset  the  saloon,  the  dive,  and  the  pool  room, 
we  open  quiet  reading-rooms  and  chaperoned  recreation- 
rooms,  and  we  wonder  that  they  are  not  attractive  to 
people  who  have  never  learned  to  take  delight  in  reading 
or  in  quiet  recreation.  All  these  failures  and  wonder- 
ments on  our  part  leave  them  in  a  deplorable  condition, 
and  build  up  between  us  and  them  a  wall  of  alienation 
and  misunderstanding  that  not  only  suggests  a  "  war  of 
classes  "  in  the  future,  but  is  narrowing  and  blinding  to 
both  classes  now.  The  rich  and  the  learned  are  poorer 
and  meaner  because  they  cannot  enter  into  brotherly 
and  sisterly  relations  with  the  toilers ;  and  these  suffer 
equally  because  they  are  sundered  from  those.  Nothing 
can  bring  about  that  sympathy  of  classes  which  is  so 


EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS  95 

essential  to  a  democracy  and  so  beneficial  to  all  classes 
but  the  universal  diffusion  of  culture.  The  true  rivals 
to  the  saloon,  the  dive,  and  the  pool  room  are  the  Bread- 
winners' College  and  Polytechneum,  with  their  lectures, 
their  classes,  their  exhibitions,  and  their  practical  work. 

There  is  money  enough  and  talent  enough  in  this  city 
of  New  York  to  give  a  higher  education  to  all  the  people 
if  they  would  but  demand  it.  If  but  half  the  money 
that  is  spent  in  preaching  old  fables,  and  obsolete,  semi- 
barbarous  moralities  were  devoted  to  the  truly  religious 
purpose  of  developing  the  bodies  and  enlightening  the 
souls  of  them  that  sit  in  darkness,  we  should  soon  have 
a  different  world  about  us.  To-day  we  need  some- 
thing very  different  from,  and  more  effective  than,  the 
weekly  sermon  and  the  catechism.  And,  above  all,  we 
need  to  learn  that  the  simple  doing  of  our  duty  in  all 
the  relations  of  life  is  the  only  worthy  religion.  In 
that  religion  there  are  no  sects ;  there  is  neither  Jew 
nor  Gentile. 

Let  us  all  hope  that  ere  the  twentieth  century  reaches 
its  majority  there  will  be  in  every  city  ward  and  in 
every  country  township  a  People's  University,  consist- 
ing of  a  College  for  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral 
culture  and  a  Polytechneum  for  professional  training. 
So  only  will  it  be  well  with  us  and  our  country. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT 

In  the  summer  of  1898  I  was  asked  by  the  director 
of  the  New  York  People's  Institute  to  give  four  lectures 
in  the  course  of  the  following  winter  before  an  audience 
assembling  in  the  large  hall  of  the  Cooper  Institute  —  an 
audience  composed  chiefly  of  working  men  and  women. 
I  agreed  to  do  so,  on  condition  that  the  lectures  should 
be  given  before  the  New  Year,  as  I  did  not  expect  to  be 
able  to  give  them  later.  There  seemed,  at  first,  to  be 
no  obstacle  to  this  arrangement;  but,  later,  the  director 
wrote  to  me  saying  that  he  found  it  impossible  to  fix 
dates  for  my  lectures  before  the  New  Year.  I  replied 
then  that  I  must  decline  to  give  them.  He  then  wrote 
to  me,  asking  whether,  if  the  question  of  dates  could  be 
satisfactorily  met,  I  would  be  willing  to  give  them  else- 
where than  in  the  Cooper  Institute.  I  answered  that  I 
had  no  preference  in  the  matter  of  location.  Thereupon 
it  was  arranged  that  I  should  give  my  lectures  on  four 
Wednesday  evenings  in  December,  in  the  auditorium 
of  the  Educational  Alliance,  a  large  Hebrew  institute  on 
the  lower  East  Side  of  the  city  —  an  institution  attended 
chiefly  by  Russian,  Polish,  and  Hungarian  Jews.  I  was 
warned  that  I  should  find  there  a  very  critical  audience, 
made  up  largely  of  socialists  of  the  Marxian  type,  anar- 
chists, single-taxists,  and  the  like,  who,  at  the  close  of 

96 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERLVIENT  97 

each  lecture,  would  subject  me  to  a  rigorous  examination, 
and  try  to  draw  me  into  a  dispute. 

Being  naturally  averse  to  wrangling,  and  having  been 
thus  forewarned,  I  thought  it  would  be  wise  to  avoid 
disputable  assertions  in  my  lectures,  and  confine  myself, 
as  far  as  possible,  to  the  statement  of  questions  and  prob- 
lems. I  therefore  chose  as  my  subject  '^  The  Problems 
which  the  Nineteenth  Century  hands  over,  for  Solution, 
to  the  Twentieth."  I  flattered  myself  that  I  ought  to 
be  able,  with  such  a  subject,  to  impart  a  certain  amount 
of  classified  knowledge,  arouse  some  thought,  and  yet 
remain  as  innocently  and  impregnably  ignorant  as  Soc- 
rates. I  resolved  to  devote  my  first  lecture  to  a  consid- 
eration of  the  social  conditions  that  mark  the  close  of  the 
nineteenth  century;  my  second,  to  the  economic  and 
political  problems  rising  out  of  these ;  my  third,  to  the 
educational  problems;  and  my  fourth,  to  the  religious 
and  philosophic  problems. 

When  my  subject  was  announced,  several  of  my  wise 
friends  thought  it  their  duty  to  reason  with  me  on  the 
obvious  folly  of  treating  such  questions  before  such  an 
audience.  "You  don't  mean,"  they  said,  "to  talk  phil- 
osophically before  a  lot  of  people  from  the  sweat-shops, 
most  of  whom  have  but  recently  arrived  in  the  country, 
and  hardly  understand  English.  What  they  want  is  a 
course  of  lectures,  profusely  illustrated  with  stereopticon, 
on  Dewey's  victory  at  Manila,  the  sinking  of  the  Maine, 
the  charge  of  the  rough  riders  at  Santiago  de  Cuba,  the 
destruction  of  Cervera's  squadron,  or  else  on  the  Yosemite 
Valley,  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  or  the  big  trees  of  California. 
These  are  the  things  they  care  for  and  can  appreciate.'* 


98  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

"The  trouble  about  that,"  I  replied,  "is  that  I  don't 
know  anything  about  the  subjects  you  suggest,  except 
what  I  read  in  the  newspapers  and  magazines,  which  are 
as  accessible  to  my  prospective  audience  as  they  are  to 
me.  Some  of  them,  I  understand,  are  keepers  of  news- 
stands. I  don't  wish  to  do  at  second  hand  the  work  of 
the  periodical  press.  I  must  deal  with  the  things  that 
I  know  something  about,  and  I  prefer  to  deal  with  such 
as  impart  instruction  rather  than  amusement.  I  am  not 
a  very  good  instructor ;  but  I  should  be  altogether  a  fail- 
ure as  a  master  of  amusements.  As  to  talking  philo- 
sophically, I  am  afraid  I  don't  know  when  I  do  that;  but 
I  .shall  try  to  impart  to  them  the  highest  truth  I  know  in 
the  simplest  terms  I  can  find."  "  But  you  don't  expect," 
urged  my  friends,  "that  an  audience  of  foreign  work- 
people will  be  interested  in  the  questions  you  propose  to 
talk  about."  "That  I  do  expect,"  I  said;  "I  have  had 
some  acquaintance  with  work-people  in  more  countries 
than  one,  and  I  have  always  found  them  as  intelligent 
with  regard  to  all  vital  questions  as  anybody.  They  are 
less  sophisticated  and  prejudiced  than  most  people,  and 
respond  more  heartily  to  the  truth.  Besides,  the  reason 
why  I  was  asked  to  give  this  series  of  lectures  is  that,  in 
spite  of  all  prophecies  to  the  contrary,  I  managed  last  win- 
ter to  interest  a  large  popular  audience  at  the  Cooper 
Institute  when  I  talked  on  '  Greek  Democracies,'  a  pretty 
remote  subject.  During  the  hour  and  a  half  which 
my  lecture  occupied,  no  one  scraped,  hissed,  whistled, 
or  went  out."  At  this  my  friends  left  me  alone,  not 
knowing,  apparently,  which  to  admire  more,  my  vanity 
or  my  folly. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT  99 

On  the  occasion  of  my  first  lecture,  the  director  of 
the  People's  Institute,  in  introducing  me  to  the  audi- 
ence, kindly  endeavored  to  secure  me  their  interest 
and  attention  by  telling  them  that  I  was  the  originator 
of  the  Fabian  Society  ^ ;  that  I  had  never,  in  my  life, 
received  a  penny  of  profit,  interest,  or  economic  rent; 
and  that  I  had  taken  the  stump  for  Henry  George  on 
the  occasion  of  his  first  candidature  for  the  mayoralty 
of  New  York.  The  director's  endeavor  was  success- 
ful, but  it  placed  me  in  a  somewhat  false  position.  My 
audience  concluded  that  I  was  a  socialist,  that  I  was  a 
foe  to  interest  and  profit,  and  that  I  was  a  single-taxist,  — 
all  of  which  was  incorrect.  I  had  to  explain  that  I  was 
too  much  of  an  anarchist  to  be  a  socialist  and  too  much 
of  a  socialist  to  be  an  anarchist;  that  my  practice  in 
regard  to  profit,  interest,  and  rent  was  purely  a  private 
matter ;  and  that  my  support  of  Henry  George  was  due 
to  my  admiration  for  the  man's  sterling  character,  and 
not  to  his  advocacy  of  the  single  tax.  The  fact  that 
they  now  did  not  know  what  I  was,  made  them  curious 
to  find  out,  and  still  further  secured  me  attention. 

Being  still  afraid  of  an  audience  reputed  to  be  so  crit- 
ical, I  took  care,  before  opening  my  lecture,  to  say  that 
I  had  not  come  to  teach  them  anything,  or  to  solve  any 
problems,  but  merely  to  enumerate,  classify,  and  explain 
the  problems  which  it  would  be  the  task  of  the  coming 
century  to  solve ;  that,  if  I  had  the  solution  of  any 
of  them  in  my  pocket,  it  would  be  wicked  of  me  to 
allow  them  to  pass  on  unsolved  to  a  new  age.    A  friend 

1  This  is  not  true  in  tlie  sense  that  I  am  responsible  for  its 
principles. 


100         EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

afterward  remarked  that  I  spiked  all  their  guns  before 
I  began ;  and  that  was  just  what  I  meant  to  do. 

But,  for  all  that,  I  did  not  escape  questioning.  The 
lecture,  given  before  an  audience  of  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  persons  of  foreign  aspect,  —  nearly  all  Jews,  as 
I  afterward  learned,  —  lasted  about  an  hour  and  a  half, 
and  went  off  quietly.  Then  followed  a  shower  of  ques- 
tions, all  serious  and  all  perfectly  good-natured,  to  which 
I  replied  as  best  I  could,  sometimes  openly  avowing  my 
ignorance,  which  indeed  was  no  matter  of  mere  strategy. 
But  how  glad  I  was  that  I  had  'made  no  dogmatic 
statements !  If  I  had,  I  should  have  been  ground  to 
powder.  Before  we  broke  up,  I  had  learned  that  my 
audience,  though,  indeed,  critical,  was  completely  serious 
and  deserved  to  be  treated  Avith  the  utmost  consider- 
ation; and  that,  if  some  of  its  members  had  allowed 
themselves  to  be  carried  away  by  specious  theories  and 
sentimental  appeals  to  self-pity,  they  had  done  so  in  per- 
fect good  faith.  I  saw  clearly  that  they  cared  for  truth 
above  all  things,  and  that,  while  they  would  treat  with 
scorn  any  one  who  came  to  them  with  an  air  of  author- 
ity, they  would  take  to  their  hearts  any  one  who  came 
to  help  them  to  discover  truth  by  which  they  might 
live.  My  first  lecture  had  been  given  from  notes,  and 
was  somewhat  incoherent.  I  resolved  to  write  the  others 
out  at  full  length,  and  I  did.  I  was  sorry,  too,  that  my 
wise  friends  had  not  been  present.  They  would  have 
learned  something. 

My  second  lecture,  though  treating  of  subjects  about 
which  there  was  the  greatest  difference  of  opinion  among 
my  audience,  went  off  quietly.    Questions  were  numerous, 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT         101 

as  before;  but  there  was  no  caviling  and  no  speech- 
making.  My  third  lecture,  as  I  could  easily  see  during 
its  delivery,  carried  my  audience,  which  had  now  more 
than  doubled,  with  it,  and  it  was  applauded  at  the  end. 
Then  followed  questions  more  numerous  and  eager  than 
before.  In  the  midst  of  these,  a  young  man  stood  up 
and  said  something  like  this :  "  It  is  all  very  well  to  talk 
about  education  for  the  breadwinners ;  but  how  can  peo- 
ple like  us,  who  work  nine  or  ten,  and  sometimes  more, 
hours  a  day,  who  come  home  tired,  who  have  no  con- 
venience there  for  study,  few  books,  and  no  one  to  guide 
or  instruct  us,  obtain  any  liberal  education  ?  "  The  ques- 
tion was  greeted  with  applause,  which  I  took  to  mean 
that  it  was  asked  by  the  whole  audience.  And  I  felt 
that,  of  all  questions,  it  was  the  one  best  deserving  to  be 
asked  there  and  then.  Feeling  that  I  was  ready  with 
no  answer  to  it,  in  an  unguarded  moment  (or  shall  I 
say  a  moment  of  inspiration?),  I  rephed:  "That  is  just 
the  chief  educational  problem  which  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury hands  over  to  the  twentieth.  Of  course  you  do 
not  expect  me  to  solve  it.  But  one  thing  I  can  do  for 
you  of  a  practical  sort.  I  cannot  procure  for  you  shorter 
hours,  or  make  you  less  tired  at  night ;  I  cannot  supply 
you  with  home  conveniences  for  study  or  with  books ; 
but  one  thing  I  can  and  will  do,  if  you  care  to  have  me. 
If  you  will  organize  a  club  of  people  who  are  really  in 
earnest,  and  who  will  work  with  all  their  might,  I  will 
devote  one  evening  a  week  to  it."  "That's  talking," 
some  one  said,  and  then  came  a  storm  of  applause. 

When  the  questions  were  concluded,  a  number  of  the 
young  people  came  upon  the  stage,  eagerly  asking  if 


102        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

I  really  meant  to  take  charge  of  a  club,  and  expressing 
their  desire  to  belong  to  it  if  I  did.  I  assured  them 
that  I  should  keep  my  promise  to  the  letter.  Then 
the  superintendent  of  the  Educational  Alliance,  coming 
forward,  said:  "If  you  will  lead  a  club,  we  will  give 
you  a  room."  *' That's  all  we  need,"  I  replied;  and, 
turning  to  the  young  people,  I  said:  "Now  we  have 
everything  —  pupils,  class  room,  teacher.  When  shall 
we  begin  ?  What  evening  is  most  convenient  for  jou  ?  " 
"Saturday,"  was  the  reply.  "Since  next  Saturday  is 
Christmas  Eve,  and  the  following  New  Year's  Eve,  we 
had  better  avoid  these  and  begin  on  the  7th  of  January," 
I  said.  This  seemed  to  please  everybody,  and  so  we 
parted. 

.  My  fourth  lecture  was  attended  by  over  six  hundred 
persons,  and  roused  no  opposition,  though  it  was  un- 
sparingly radical. 

Before  the  7th  of  January  came  I  had  another  visi- 
tation from  some  of  my  wise  friends,  whose  mission  in 
life  seemed  to  be  to  scare  others  from  doing  whatever 
they  didn't  do  themselves.  This  time,  however,  I  was 
ready  for  them.  I  knew  the  elements  that  would  com- 
pose my  class.  "  Do  you  know  what  you  have  under- 
taken? "  asked  my  friends.  "Yes,"  said  T.  "  Then  you 
know  that  down  tliere  they  are  mostly  socialists,  anar- 
chists and  nihilists?"  "Yes,"  said  I,  "and  that's  just 
what  makes  them  interesting.  One  good  thing  about 
such  people  is  that  they  generally  have  done  some 
thinking  on  their  own  account,  and  that  is  the  very 
best  of  all  preparations  for  serious  study."  "  But," 
persisted  my  friends,  "  you  will  never  be  able  to  preserve 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT         103 

order  among  them.  They  will  orate,  and  dispute,  and 
'  claim,'  and  make  motions,  and  you  will  never  be  able 
to  get  down  to  serious  work."  "  They  will  do  nothing 
of  the  sort,  more  than  one  evening,"  said  I,  "  and  we 
shall  get  down  to  work  almost  from  the  first."  "  Well ! 
well ! "  said  my  friends,  and  gave  me  up  as  a  hopeless 
case. 

Meanwhile,  I  was  investigating  the  conditions  and 
needs  of  the  members  of  my  prospective  class,  and  try- 
ing to  lay  out  work  for  them.  I  found  that  they  ranged 
all  the  way  from  the  news-stands  and  sweatshops  to  the 
City  College,  the  Normal  School,  and  Columbia  Univer- 
sity, and  that  their  needs  were  as  different  as  their  con- 
ditions. It  was  obviously  difficult  to  find  work  in  which 
all  the  members  of  such  a  class  could  share  with  profit ; 
but  it  did  not  seem  impossible,  since  they  were  all  inter- 
ested, in  more  or  less  intelligent  ways,  in  History  and 
Sociology.  "  My  first  object,  therefore,  in  takin^^  the 
class,  was  to  induce  its  members  to  study  and  think  out 
carefully  the  great  problems  of  Sociology  and  Culture, 
in  accordance  with  the  historic  method,  and  so  to  impart 
to  their  minds  a  healthy  attitude  toward  society,  to  do 
away  with  the  vengeful  sense  of  personal  or  class  wrong, 
and  to  arouse  faith  in  individual  effort  and  manly  and 
womanly  self-dependence.  I  desired,  moreover,  to  give 
them  such  an  outlook  upon  life  as  would  lift  their  lives 
out  of  narrowness  and  sordidness,  and  give  them  ideal 
aims.  Finally,  I  wished  to  train  them  in  the  use  of  cor- 
rect English,  both  written  and  spoken."  ^ 

1  Quoted  from  my  report  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Educational 
Alliance. 


104         EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EAENERS 

With  a  view  to  these  things,  I  resolved,  after  gaining 
the  confidence  of  my  class,  to  make  them  do  as  much 
of  the  work  as  possible,  while  I  confined  my  efforts  to 
imparting  i^ipetus  and  direction.  Further,  I  resolved 
.to  divide  the  work  into  two  parts,  devoting  an  hour 
at  every  meeting  to  each. 

The  First  Fart,  by  means  of  which  I  hoped,  grad- 
ually and  imperceptibly,  to  build  up  in  the  minds  of 
my  pupils  a  panorama  of  social  evolution  in  all  its 
phases,  intellectual,  moral,  religious,  political,  econom- 
ical, artistic,  literary,  consisted  of  essays,  maps,  and 
recitations.  It  would  have  seemed  to  an  outsider 
rather  miscellaneous  and  unsystematic;  but  there  was 
method  in  it.     It  stood  as  follows: 

I.  Biocp-apkies :  (1)  Aristotle;  (2)  Bacon;  (3)  Kant;  (4)  Her- 
der; (5)  Goethe;  (6)  Mirabeau;  (7)  Fr.  Lieber;  (8)  Emer- 
son; (9)  Tennyson;  (10)  George  Eliot. 
II.  Definitions:    (1)    Society,    People,    Nation;    (2)    Sociology; 
(3)  Socialism ;  (4)  Institution ;  (5)  Person  and  Individual ; 

(6)  Duty ;  (7)  Religion  ;  (8)  Nature  ;  (9)  Progress  and  Evo- 
lution ;  (1 0)  Science. 

III.  Maps:  (1)  Egypt;  (2)  Babylonia;  (3)  Assyria;  (4)  Persia; 

(5)  Palestine;     (6)    Greece;    (7)    Italy;    (8)    Phoenicia; 
(9)    Macedonian  Empire ;    (10)  Roman  Empire. 

IV.  Races,  Epochs,  and  World  Religions :  (1)  Turanians;  (2)  Sem- 

ites; (3)  Aryans;  (4) Savagery;  (5) Barbarism;  (6) Civicism; 

(7)  Humanism;  (8)  Buddhism;  (9)  Christianity;  (10)  Islam. 
V.  Recitations:  (1)  Portia's  Eulogy  of  Mercy,  from  "The  Mer- 
chant of  Venice";  (2)  "Love  thou  thy  Land"  (Tennyson); 
(3)  (4)  (5)  "In  Memoriam,"  cxviii,  cxx,  cxxviii  {id.)  > 

(6)  "Is  it  come?"  (Frances  Browne);   (7)   Ps^lm  xix ; 

(8)  "The   Present   Crisis"   (Lowell);    (9)  "A   Psalm   of 
Life"  (Longfellow);  (10)  "Days"  (Emerson). 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT         105 

Here  were  five  headings,  with  ten  subjects  under 
each,  making  in  all  fifty  subjects,  calling  for  home 
work  on  the  part  of  the  pupils.  Together  they  seemed 
to  offer  a  sort  of  bird's-eye  view  of  the  scene  and  course 
of  human  evolution,  including  some  of  its  most  efficient 
agents  and  concepts.  The  Biographies,  the  Definitions, 
the  Races,  Epochs,  and  World  Religions  were  to  be 
treated  in  essays  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  words 
each.  The  Biographies  were  those  of  philosophers, 
poets,  and  statesmen  mentioned  in  the  early  pages  of 
Henderson's  "  Social  Elements."  ^  The  Definitions  were 
those  of  terms  frequently  used  in  dispute  by  young 
people  without  being  understood,  hence  causing  end- 
less confusion.  The  Races,  Epochs,  and  World  Religions 
seemed  to  cover  the  chief  facts  in  the  world's  history. 
The  Maps,  together,  included  the  whole  ancient  world, 
while  the  Recitations  were  calculated  to  rouse  an  inter- 
est in  social  life,  its  virtues,  hopes,  and  fears.  I  hoped 
that,  when  the  fifty  subjects  were  pieced  together,  there 
would  result  a  kind  of  unitary  world  in  which  the 
young  people  would  feel  at  home,  and  a  kind  of  drama 
in  which  they  would  not  only  feel  interested,  but  also 
recognize  their  own  places  and  r61es.  I  hoped,  too,  that 
thus  they  would  come  to  see  the  burning  social  and 
economic  questions  of  the  present  day  from  a  point 
of  view  which  would  enable  them  to  see  these  justly, 
and  in  their  true  proportions,  to  escape  being  the  vic- 
tims of  crude  social  and  economic  theories,  and  to 
recognize  the  grandeur  of  the  institutions  under  which 
they  live. 

1  See  below,  p.  106. 


106        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

The  Second  Part^  through  which  I  hoped  to  satisfy 
the  desire,  evinced  by  so  many  of  the  young  people,  to 
discuss  social  problems,  took  for  its  basis  a  single  book, 
Henderson's  "  Social  Elements,"  which  I  hoped  to  have 
discussed  chapter  by  chapter.  The  book  was  well  adapted 
for  our  purpose,  offering  a  comprehensive  view  of  the 
whole  field  of  sociology,  and  treating  every  part  with 
simplicity  and  good  judgment.  Taking  account  of  these 
two  parts,  I  called  the  class  A  Class  in  History  and 
Sociology. 

When  the  class  met  for  the  first  time,  on  the  7th  of 
January,  1899,  I  showed  that  I  had  made  careful  prep- 
aration for  it,  and  this  at  once  produced  an  excellent 
effect.  There  were  fifty-six  persons  present,  of  ages 
ranging,  as  afterward  appeared,  from  sixteen  to  fifty- 
eight.  Only  a  small  proportion  were  girls.  I  began 
work  by  distributing  slips  of  paper  and  asking  each 
person  present  to  write  down  (1)  his  or  her  full  name ; 
(2)  age ;  (3)  native  country ;  (4)  present  residence ;  (5) 
occupation ;  (6)  number  of  hours  employed  daily ;  (7) 
object  in  joining  the  class.  When  the  slips  were  all 
collected,  I  began  to  lay  out  the  work.  After  distrib- 
uting the  fifty  subjects  of  the  first  part  among  as  many 
volujiteers,  and  explaining  how  I  wished  them  to  be 
treated  and  at  what  length,  I  passed  on  to  the  second, 
and  told  them  that  the  purpose  of  it  was  to  give  them 
such  a  view  of  the  evolution  of  social  institutions  as 
would  enable  them,  in  the  end,  to  form  a  correct  judg- 
ment regarding  the  value  of  such  schemes  as  socialism, 
anarchism,  single-taxism,  and  the  like.  "  At  present," 
I  said,  "  the  most  of  you  are  as  unfit  to  deal  with  these 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT         107 

subjects  as  a  man  who  has  just  learned  the  multiplication 
table  is  to  deal  with  analytic  geometry  or  quaternions. 
If,  after  a  careful  study  of  the  history  of  human  society 
in  all  its  phases,  you  still  remain  socialists  or  anarchists, 
I  shall,  of  course,  have  nothing  to  say  except  that  you 
now  hold  as  science  what  you  formerly  held  as  mere 
prejudice  resting  on  ignorance  or  sentiment.  It  will 
be  a  very  freeing  and  widening  experience  for  you, 
whatever  conclusion  you  may  reach,  to  be  able  to  view 
the  problems  of  the  present  from  the  standpoint  of 
universal  history,  and  so  to  see  just  how  tilings  have 
come  to  be  as  they  are.  Most  of  our  Utopian  schemes, 
upon  which  so  many  generous  spirits  waste  their  en- 
ergies, are  children  of  ignorance  and  misplaced  pity. 
What  we  need  is  a  scheme  that  shall  rest  upon  a  broad 
basis  of  historic  science  and  human  psychology.  You 
need  to  study  before  you  begin  to  dispute ;  and  perhaps 
when  you  have  studied  you  will  find  little  room  ox  desire 
for  dispute.  Indeed,  disputation  usually  aims  at  victory  i^ 
rather  than  truth."  I  then  went  on  to  reassure  them  that 
I  had  no  intention  of  teaching  them  anything,  my  aim 
being  merely  to  direct  them  to  the  sources  of  truth  and 
in  the  methods  of  correct  thinking.  The  teaching  they 
would  have  to  do  themselves.  When  we  parted  at  ten 
o'clock  I  flattered  myself  that  I  had  placed  the  main 
occasions  for  dispute  at  a  safe  distance,  and  that  perhaps 
they  would  never  be  reached.     And  they  haven't  yet. 

When  I  reached  home  I  examined  the  slips  that  had 
been  handed  in,  and  was  almost  discouraged  when  I  saw 
of  what  heterogeneous  elements  my  class  was  composed.   . 
The  handwritings  were  almost  uniformly  bad.      One 


108        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

thing,  however,  gave  me  hope.  There  was  evidently 
but  one  motive  for  joining  the  class,  and  that  was  a 
burning  desire  for  knowledge.  Given  that,  I  felt  I 
could  go  on.  "  My  first  part,"  I  said,  "  contains  some- 
thing for  everybody." 

The  following  Saturday  the  class  met  again  with 
increased  numbers.  The  proportion  of  girls  was  visi- 
bly greater  than  before.  A  number  of  essays  were 
handed  in ;  but,  as  I  had  no  opportunity  to  examine 
and  correct  them,  none  of  them  were  read.  We  began 
work  with  a  couple  of  recitations :  (1)  Emerson's  "  Days," 
(2)  Portia's  Eulogy  of  Mercy,  from  "  The  Merchant  of 
Venice."  Both  were  fairly  well  given,  the  latter  with 
a  very  foreign  accent.  Discussion  followed  in  each  case. 
The  meaning  of  the  former  piece,  whose  imagery  was 
dwelt  upon,  was  shown  to  be  this :  that  every  day  is 
a  manifold  opportunity  which  may  be  either  seized  and 
used  to  scale  the  highest  heaven,  or  wasted  for  the 
sake  of  "  a  few  herbs  and  apples  "  —  just  as  each  one 
pleases.  I  could  see  that  this  made  a  deep  impression, 
and  it  gave  no  cause  for  dispute.  It  was  otherwise 
with  the  second  piece.  When  the  relation  of  mercy  to 
justice  came  up,  several  young  men  rose  and  made 
speeches  in  true  debating-society  fashion.  I  made  no 
objection,  but  took  notes  as  they  proceeded.  When 
they  sat  down,  they  found  to  their  surprise  that, 
instead  of  being  answered,  they  were  going  to  have 
to  explain  their  speeches.  Such  an  experience  was 
new,  but  they  faced  it  bravely.  "  Just  what  do  you 
mean  by  'justice,'  about  which  you  have  spoken  so 
eloquently?"   I  began.     Not  only  the   speechmakers, 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT         109 

but  several  others,  in  turn,  tried  their  hands  at  defini- 
tions, each  beginning  with  "  I  claim."  All  of  these 
I  treated  in  Socratic  fashion,  adducing  instances  that 
came  under  the  respective  definitions,  but  were  not 
covered  by  them,  and  asking  if  they  were  just.  As 
they  plainly  were  not,  it  soon  became  clear  to  every 
one  present  that  the  speechmakers  had  been  talking 
copiously  about  things  they  did  not  understand.  I  never 
had  to  listen  after  that  to  a  speech,  and  I  never  again 
heard  **I  claim."  The  class  had  learned  one  lesson, 
at  any  rate,  —  a  lesson  in  caution.  I  learned  afterward 
that  several  socialists,  who  had  come  with  the  intention 
of  proving  that  socialism  was  a  synonym  for  justice, 
were  discouraged  and  postponed  their  exhibition.  So 
passed  the  first  hour  without  a  jar,  and  in  the  most 
good-natured  way.  In  the  second  hour,  we  took  up 
the  Introduction  to  Henderson's  "Social  Elements," 
which  deals  with  "  The  Basis  of  vSociety  in  Nature."  I 
began  by  asking,  "  What  do  you  mean  by  '  nature  '  ?  " 
Everybody  thought  he  knew  that,  and  many  attempted 
definitions.  These  differed  widely  from  each  other, 
and  the  result  was  a  general  feeling  of  uncertainty  and 
ignorance.  I  then  asked,  "  Who  will  write  a  paper  on 
'Nature'  for  next  week?"  Two  young  men  volun- 
teered, and  the  matter  dropped  for  the  time.  We  then 
took  up  the  notion  of  history,  and,  from  the  various 
definitions,  brought  out  the  facts  that  there  are  several 
kinds  of  history,  and  that,  in  modern  times,  history 
tends  to  be  less  and  less  a  genealogy  of  kings  and  a 
record  of  wars,  and  more  and  more  an  account  of  the  life 
and  culture  of  the  people.     Several  histories  were  cited 


110         EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

as  evidence  of  this.  In  sucli  discussions  the  second 
hour  passed  to  the  evident  delight  of  everybody.  My 
difficulties  were  over. 

The  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  Saturdays  I  was  absent 
from  the  class  on  account  of  severe  illness,  and  my  place 
was  taken  by  two  good  friends.  When  I  returned  to 
it,  I  found  the  interest  undiminished. 

I  cannot  continue  the  history  of  the  class  in  detail.  It 
steadily  increased  in  numbers,  and  advanced  in  quality 
of  work.  We  soon  needed  two  rooms  instead  of  one. 
Essays,  biographies,  detailed  definitions,  and  epitomes 
of  important  books  were  written,  read,  and  discussed  in 
the  kindliest  spirit ;  poems  were  recited  ;  maps,  some  of 
them  very  good,  were  brought  in.  I  carefully  corrected, 
down  even  to  the  commas,  all  the  written  compositions 
before  they  were  read.  During  their  reading,  I  took 
note  of  all  false  pronunciations  and  emphases,  and,  at 
the  close,  pointed  them  out.  The  epitomes  of  books 
proved  extremely  valuable.  Many  of  them,  such  as  that 
of  Max  Miiller's  first  series  of  ''  Lectures  on  the  Science 
of  Language,"  were  admirably  done,  and  contributed  to 
open  up  wide  and  comprehensive  views,  and  to  make 
the  phenomena  of  culture  fall  into  survey  able  groups. 
But  what  excited  most  interest  and  discussion  were 
the  definitions,  especially  when  they  were  felt  to  be 
needed  to  clear  up  a  certain  point.  One  young  man 
having  declared,  with  evident  self-satisfaction,  and  some 
applause  from  the  class,  that  he  was  a  materialist,  I  said, 
"  So  am  I  —  a  materialist  of  the  worst  kind.  Of  course, 
you  know  what  you  mean  by  '  materialist ' ;  suppose  you 
tell  us."     The  answer  involved  the  terms  "  force  "  and 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT         111 

"  matter."  Then  I  called  for  a  definition  of  the  latter. 
As  I  expected,  everybody  was  ready  with  one.  Matter  ! 
—  of  course,  everybody  knows  what  matter  is.  But, 
at  the  end  of  some  twenty  minutes,  it  was  evident  to 
all  that  nobody  knew.  This  was,  plainly,  a  surprise. 
The  young  people  moved  about  uneasily,  as  if  to  shake 
a  definition  out  of  their  heads ;  but  none  would  come. 
I  must  say,  I  enjoyed  their  surprise  and  defeat.  After 
a  little  I  began  to  ask  them  what  they  knew  about 
matter.  "Matter,"  I  said,  "means  to  you  just  what 
you  know  about  it,"  which  was  self-evident.  "Well, 
I  know  it's  hard,"  said  one.  "Yes,"  I  replied;  "but 
when  is  it  hard  ?  Is  it  hard  when  you  are  not  touching 
it  ? "  There  was  a  moment  of  silence  and  reflection, 
and  then  a  general  agreement  that  it  was  hard  only 
when  somebody  was  touching  it.  "So  hardness,"  I 
said,  "  implies  a  toucher,  somebody  to  feel  it  ? "  A 
general  "  Yes  "  came  rather  slowly  and  reluctantly,  but 
inevitably.  There  is  no  need  to  repeat  the  whole  con- 
versation. It  soon  became  evident  that  everything 
which  anybody  knew  about  matter  involved  a  sentient, 
and  even  an  intelligent,  mind.  Thus,  in  about  half  an 
hour,  by  means  of  simple  questions,  and  without  any 
assertion  on  my  part,  I  brought  the  class  to  what  may 
be  called  the  idealistic  view  of  the  world.  From  that 
day  to  this  no  member  has  again  boasted  of  being  a 
materialist,  and  to-day  every  one  knows  that  any  world 
that  anybody  can  intelligently  talk  about  is  a  mental 
construction.  Such  conversations  made  a  deep  and  last- 
ing impression,  opening  up  a  new  world  and  banishing 
many  hobgoblins  from  the  mind. 


112        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

The  class  met  once  a  week  for  four  months,  and  did 
a  great  deal  of  good  work.  To  a  casual  visitor  this 
might  have  seemed  chaotic,  but  it  was  not.  During 
the  whole  time,  though  young  men  and  women  sat 
mixed  up  together,  the  behavior  was  exemplary.  I 
never  had  to  utter  a  word  of  reproof  or  caution.  On 
the  contrary,  their  whole  attitude  was  a  continual  inspi- 
ration to  me,  and  made  me  feel  that  I  got  more  than  I 
gave.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  time,  many  of 
them  visited  me  at  my  rooms,  giving  me  an  opportun- 
ity to  become  acquainted  with  their  characters,  condi- 
tions, and  aspirations.  Thus  there  grew  up  between 
us  a  friendship  of  the  most  delightful  sort.  At  our 
last  regular  meeting  ninety-eight  persons  were  present. 
At  the  very  end,  before  I  left  for  the  country,  they 
gave  me  a  delightful  "  send-off/'  in  the  form  of  a  recep- 
tion, at  which  they  presented  me  with  a  lantern  for  the 
woods,  and  an  album  with  their  names  and  expressions 
of  the  most  kindly  feeling.  On  that  occasion  I  made 
a  short  address,  encouraging  them  to  continue  their 
meetings  during  the  summer,  to  write  essays  and  epit- 
omes, and  after  sending  them  to  me  for  criticism  and 
correction,  to  read  and  discuss  them.  I  promised  to 
write  them  a  weekly  letter,  if  they  would  keep  me 
informed  of  all  that  took  place  at  their  meetings,  which 
they  agreed  to  do. 

They  kept  their  word  royally.  Throughout  the  entire 
summer,  notwithstanding  the  frequent  heat,  they  held 
their  meetings  every  Saturday  evening,  and  reported 
their  work  to  me.  They  likewise  sent  me  their  essays 
and  epitomes,  which  I  corrected  and  returned.     I  need 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT         113 

not  say  that  I  never  neglected  my  weekly  letter. ^  The 
subjects  of  their  essays  were  drawn  from  Martineau's 
"  Types  of  Ethical  Theory,"  and  Freeman's  "  Compar- 
ative Politics,"  which  I  had  recommended  to  them.  The 
epitomes  covered  a  wide  range  of  reading.  One  young 
man,  a  bookkeeper,  sent  me  the  epitomes  of  Darwin's 
"  Origin  of  Species "  and  "  Descent  of  Man,"  Drum- 
mond's  "Ascent  of  Man,"  and  Max  Miiller's  "Lectures 
on  the  Science  of  Language"  (First  Series),  all  most 
carefully  and  intelligently  done.  I  must  plead  guilty 
to  having  felt  a  certain  amount  of  pride  when  I  found 
that  the  class  could  go  on  without  me,  —  that  I  had  ren- 
dered myself  practically  superfluous.  Besides  my  cor- 
respondence with  the  class  as  a  whole,  numerous  letters 
passed  between  me  and  individual  members  of  it.  I  was 
consulted  about  all  sorts  of  things,  —  about  the  duty 
of  friend  to  friend,  about  the  expediency  of  marrying, 
about  how  to  get  a  college  education,  about  immortality, 
etc.  The  question  most  frequently  put  to  me,  and  the 
one  w^hich  I  felt  least  able  to  answer,  took  this  form : 
"  How  shall  we,  who  have  outgrown  orthodox  Judaism, 
deal  with  our  orthodox  parents,  who  insist  upon  our 
observing  all  the  laws  and  ceremonies  of  their  faith? 
Shall  we  openly  disobey  or  be  hypocrites?"  Several 
added  that,  if  they  disobeyed,  their  parents  would  dis- 
own them,  and  cast  them  out  of  the  family ;  ^  and  one 
young  man  sent  me,  in  the  form  of  an  essay,  a  passionate 

1  These  letters  were  manifolded  and  distributed  among  the  members 
of  the  class  by  one  of  themselves.  I  am  frequently  reminded  of  state- 
ments I  made  in  them.     [They  will  be  found  below,  Chapter  V.] 

2  I  have  been  told  of  several  cases  in  which  this  was  actually  done. 


114        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

appeal  to  parents  not  to  force  their  children  to  be  hypo- 
crites or  liars.  In  reply,  I  generally  impressed  upon  the 
writers  that  the  law  of  love  has  claims,  as  well  as  the 
law  of  truth ;  that,  while  hypocrisy  and  lying  are  forever 
forbidden,  they  should  deal  very  tenderly  with  their 
parents,  and  try  to  avoid  bringing  matters  to  open 
conflict;  that,  if  they  believed  their  faith  to  be  supe- 
rior to  that  of  their  parents,  they  should  show  this,  not 
in  words  or  boastings,  but  in  superior  conduct  and  in- 
creased thoughtfulness.  I  sometimes  added  that  they 
ought  to  devote  themselves  to  the  study  of  ancient  Jew- 
ish literature,  especially  of  the  prophets  and  psalmists, 
about  whom  I  found  they  knew  very  little. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer,  several  members  of  the 
class  visited  me  in  my  mountain  home,  and  proved 
very  delightful  company.  I  learned  a  great  deal  about 
their  characters,  conditions,  needs,  and  aspirations.  In 
view  of  these,  I  tried  to  devise  a  scheme  of  work  for 
the  coming  winter.  The  Educational  Alliance,  having 
come  into  possession  of  the  Hebrew  Free  School  Build- 
ing on  East  Fifth  Street,  agreed  to  give  me  the  use  of 
it  for  five  evenings  every  week.  I  resolved  to  utilize 
its  nine  rooms  for  such  classes  as  might  seem  most 
necessary  and  for  which  I  could  find  suitable  teachers. 
I  made  up  my  mind  to  take  Goethe's  "  Faust "  as  the 
basis  of  my  own  immediate  work,  and  wrote  to  the  class 
to  make  preparation  for  that. 

During  an  illness  which  confined  me  to  bed  for  sev- 
eral weeks  in  New  York  in  September  and  October, 
members  of  the  class  visited  me  every  day,  sometimes 
walking  a  distance* of  five  miles  in  order  to  do  so.     No 


*v" 


UNIVERSITY    ' 
THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT         115 


sons  or  daughters  could  have  been  more  loyal.  When, 
toward  the  end  of  October,  I  was  able  to  return  to  the 
class,  it  gave  me  a  royal  reception,  and  insisted  upon  cele- 
brating my  birthday,  which  it  did  in  the  most  delightful 
way,  presenting  me  at  the  close  with  a  laurel  crown  I 
On  that  occasion  I  learned,  to  my  surprise  and  great  joy, 
that,  during  my  absence,  its  membership  had  increased 
to  about  a  hundred  and  fifty. 

We  resumed  work  in  November  with  eight  classes 
in  place  of  one.  We  had  classes  in  Latin  and  Greek, 
taught  by  a  distinguished  Harvard  graduate;  classes 
in  Algebra,  Geometry,  and  Universal  History,  taught  by 
a  very  gifted  member  of  my  class,  one  who  had  spent 
the  summer  with  me ;  a  class  in  Comparative  Religion, 
taught  by  the  superintendent  of  the  Alliance ;  a  class 
in  Natural  Science,  taught  by  an  able  young  physician ; 
and,  finally,  my  own  class  in  "  Faust."  Each  class  met 
once  a  week.  Later  in  the  winter  other  classes  were 
opened.  Many  of  the  young  people  being  foreign  born, 
and  having  resided  in  this  country  but  a  few  years, 
spoke  English  imperfectly,  with  incorrect  pronunciation 
and  emphasis.  In  order  to  remedy  these  defects,  which 
stood  in  their  way,  I  raised  a  small  sum  of  money  and, 
therewith,  engaged  the  services  of  a  first-class  reader 
and  elocutionist,  who  gave  to  five  of  them  twelve  lessons 
in  voice  culture  and  reading.  Two  others  joined  the 
class,  paying  their  own  fees.  It  was  agreed  that,  at  the 
close  of  the  course,  they  should  all  open  classes,  and 
teach  what  they  had  learned  to  their  fellows.  This  they 
faithfully  did,  so  that  during  the  latter  part  of  the  win- 
ter we  had  seven  classes  in  elocution  with  an  aggregate 


116        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

attendance  of  about  fifty.  At  the  same  time,  classes 
in  stenography,  freehand  drawing,  and  higher  mathe- 
matics were  opened  by  members  of  the  original  class. 
The  attendance  at  some  of  these  classes  was  small; 
but  every  one  of  them  was  useful,  meeting  a  practical 
need.  Early  in  February,  at  the  urgent  request  of 
about  a  score  of  young  men,  mostly  students  attending 
the  City  College,  I  opened  a  class  in  the  History  of 
Philosophy,  which  met  on  Sundays  ^  from  11  a.m.  to 
1  P.M.  In  course  of  time,  this  was  joined  by  a  number 
of  young  men  and  women,  not  college  students. 

As  I  am  but  imperfectly  acquainted  with  what  went  on 
in  the  other  classes,  I  shall  speak  only  of  my  own  two. 

In  opening  the  "  Faust "  class,  I  gave  a  short  address, 
pointing  out,  in  a  general  way,  the  plan  of  the  poem, 
its  historic  and  philosophic  import,  and  its  relation  to 
the  other  great  religious  poems  of  the  world,  —  "  Job," 
the  "  Oresteia,"  and  the  "  Divine  Comedy."  Further,  I 
gave  notice  that  we  should  give  one  hour  each  evening 
to  reading  and  expounding  the  poem  in  detail,  and  the 
other  to  the  reading  and  discussion  of  essays  on  sub- 
jects connected  with  it.  I  then  called  for  volunteers 
for  a  large  number  of  essays,  —  essays  on  the  life 
of  Goethe,  the  historical  Faust,  the  legendary  Faust, 
Marlowe's  "  Dr.  Faustus,"  the  history  of  the  blood-pact 
with  the  devil,  the  origin  of  the  name  Mephistopheles, 
the  character  of  mediseval  culture,  the  Renaissance,  the 
Reformation,  Religion,  Culture  versus  Religion,  the  great 
thinkers  (Jewish,  Christian,  and  Muslim)  of  the  Middle 

1  It  must  be  remembered  that  my  pupils  were  mostly  Jews,  and 
that,  as  Hegel  said,  Denken  ist  auch  Gottesdienst. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT         117 

Age,  Goethe's  theory  of  art  as  expressed  in  the  first 
prologue  to  "  Faust,"  Aristotle's  theory  of  art  as  set 
forth  in  his  "Poetics,"  etc.  All  these  subjects  and 
many  more  found  candidates,  and  all  were  actually 
treated.     Many  subjects  were  also  given  out  later. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  I  do  not  remember  distinctly 
all  the  essays,  though  I  read  and  corrected  every  one 
of  them,  and  afterward  heard  them  read ;  but  a  few  of 
them  were  so  good  that  they  made  a  deep  impression 
on  me.  Such  were  the  essays  on  Aristotle's  Poetics, 
the  Renaissance,  Religion,  Culture,  and  Averroes.  The 
first  of  these,  written  by  a  young  woman  from  southern 
Russia,  who  makes  her  living  with  her  scissors  and 
needle,  was  admirable  and  occupied  us,  in  the  most 
profitable  way,  four  or  five  evenings.  At  the  end,  we 
had  reached  some  pretty  definite  views  as  to  the  mean- 
ing and  purpose  of  art  and  literature.  The  essay  on  the 
Renaissance,  by  a  student  of  architecture,  was  a  most 
comprehensive  presentation  of  the  whole  subject.  That 
on  Religion,  by  a  clerk  in  a  hat  factory,  was  full  of 
earnestness  and  showed  that  the  author  had  grasped  the 
heart  of  the  matter.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the 
writing  of  that  essay,  involving,  as  it  did,  considerable 
reading,  made  an  epoch  in  his  life. 

In  expounding  the  text  of  "  Faust,"  I  had  five  aims  in 
view :  (1)  to  cultivate  in  the  class  a  taste  for  true  poetry ; 
(2)  to  show  how  a  great  work  of  literary  art  should  be 
studied  so  that  its  informing  idea  might  be  seen  in  all 
its  ramifications;  (3)  to  bring  out  clearly  the  central 
idea,  or  problem,  of  "  Faust,"  viz.,  the  transition  of  the 
human  mind  from  supernaturalism,  faith,  and  authority, 


118        EDUCATION  OF   THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

embodied  in  the  institutions  of  the  Middle  Age,  to  natur- 
alism, science,  and  freedom,  which  are  struggling  for 
embodiment  in  those  of  the  present ;  (4)  to  conjure  up 
gradually  a  picture  of  mediaeval  life,  as  contrasted  with 
modern,  and  to  emphasize  the  distinction  between  the 
ethics  of  authority  and  the  ethics  of  freedom ;  (5)  to 
help  the  young  people,  who,  amid  many  difficulties  and 
misgivings,  are  crossing  the  desert  from  the  Egypt  of 
spiritual  bondage  to  the  Promised  Land  of  freedom,  to 
find  their  way,  and  to  settle  down  to  a  worthy  life  after 
their  arrival.  I  paid  but  little  attention  to  the  grammati- 
cal side  of  the  work ;  but  I  found  many  opportunities  of 
showing  that  Goethe  had  sounded  the  deepest  intellec- 
tual and  moral  problems  of  the  "  little  world,"  and  had 
in  some  cases  given  the  solution  of  them  in  a  few  words. 
As  I  went  on,  I  could  not  help  seeing  that  there  was 
growing  in  the  minds  of  my  class  a  consciousness  of 
the  drama  of  modern  life,  its  meaning,  and  direction. 

Though  we  had  twenty-eight  sessions,  we  did  not  get 
beyond  the  first  part  of  the  play,  which  deals  with  man's 
two  primitive  instincts,  —  hunger  and  love  or  lust.  At. 
our  last  meeting  I  read  an  essay  on  the  Gretchen  epi- 
sode, which  needs  tender  handling. 

In  undertaking  a  class  in  the  History  of  Philosophy 
my  chief  purposes,  apart  from  communicating  a  general 
outline  of  the  facts,  were:  (1)  to  trace  the  course  of 
reflection  from  naive  common  sense  up  to  philosophy; 
that  is,  from  that  attitude  of  mind  which  finds  and, 
without  question,  accepts  a  world  of  things,  through 
that  which  reduces  things  to  one  or  more  simple  prin- 
ciples, up  to  that  which  realizes  that,  if  they  are  to  be 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT       119 

comprehended,  they  must  be  expressed  in  terms  of  actual 
experience;  (2)  to  impress  the  conclusion,  thus  made 
evident,  that  mind  is  the  essential  condition  of  any 
knowable  world;  and  (3)  to  draw  the  corollary  that, 
since  all  experience  is  individual,  the  world  is  made  up 
of  a  multitude  of  individual  minds  acting  and  reacting 
upon  each  other  ;  in  other  words,  that  it  is  essentially 
spiritual,  social,  and  moral.  I  felt  that,  if  I  could  attain 
this  result,  several  important  questions,  such  as  those 
of  individual  immortality  and  free  will,  would  have 
answered  themselves,  and  a  solid  basis  been  laid  for  a 
worthy,  rational  life. 

I  assigned,  as  the  basis  of  our  work,  Schwegler's 
compendious  "  History  of  Philosophy,"  at  the  same  time 
giving  a  list  of  longer  works  to  be  consulted  when  neces- 
sary, —  Hegel's,  Zeller's,  Byk's,  Fairbanks',  Ueberweg- 
Heinze's,  Eidmann's,  Windelband's,  etc.  My  method  of 
instruction  was  the  same  as  that  pursued  in  the  other 
class,  —  essays  and  discussions.  I  refused  to  admit  to 
the  class  any  one  who  could  not  attend  regularly  and 
do  all  the  reading  and  writing  assigned  to  him.  I  did 
this  on  the  ground  that  philosophy  must  be  a  rounded 
whole,  and  not  a  heap  of  fragments.  I  opened  the  class 
with  a  brief  talk  on  the  meaning,  method,  and  function 
of  philosophy,  its  relations  to  tradition,  to  science,  and 
to  life,  and  its  chief  epochs. .  We  then  proceeded,  after 
a  few  words  on  Hindu  philosophy,  to  take  up  the  reflec- 
tive thought  of  the  Greeks,  and  I  gave  out  a  series  of  sub- 
jects for  essays,  including  :  The  Social  Conditions  which 
gave  rise  to  Reflection ;  Nature  versus  Convention  ;  The 
Origin  of  the  term  "  Nature  ";  Theology  versus  Science  ; 


120      educatio:n^  of  the  wage-earners 

The  Different  Schools  of  Philosophy,  their  Distinguish- 
ing Characteristics  and  their  Interrelation;  The  Chief 
Philosophers,  and  their  Special  Tenets;  The  Converg- 
ing Lines  of  Thought  that  prepared  the  Way  for  the 
Sophists ;  Sophistry  and  the  Sophists  ;  Socrates  and  his 
Relation  to  the  Sophists ;  The  Socrates  of  Aristophanes, 
of  Xenophon,  of  Plato ;  The  Transition  from  Objec- 
tivism to  Subjectivism  accomplished  by  Pre-Socratic 
Thought ;  The  Relation  of  Pre-Socratic  Thought  to 
Social  and  Political  Life,  etc.  Most  of  these  subjects 
were  treated  in  well-written  essays,  which  were  read  and 
discussed  in  the  class.  Some  of  them  showed  remark- 
able powers  of  thought,  especially  those  on  the  puzzles 
of  Zeno.  Up  to  the  time  when  I  left  for  the  country, 
our  work  covered  the  evolution  of  Greek  thought 
from  Thales  to  Socrates,  that  is,  the  first  period  in  the 
advance  of  Western  Reflection  from  na'ive  objectivism 
to  subjectivism,  and  to  the  conviction  that  the  expla- 
nation of  the  world  lies  in  the  self,  which  thus  becomes 
the  grand  reality.  I  was  surprised  to  find  how  easily 
the  fundamental  position  of  idealism  was  grasped  by 
some  of  the  young  men,  and  with  what  readiness  they 
perceived  its  consequences  for  life  and  morals. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  will  be  evident  that,  in 
the  few  months  of  its  existence,  the  class  acquired  a 
certain  amount  of  intellectual  and  moral  insight.  But 
that  was  not  my  only  aim  in  carrying  it  on.  I  had  two 
others:  (1)  to  train  as  many  as  possible  of  the  young 
people  for  active  philanthropic  work ;  and  (2)  to  banish 
from  their  hearts  all  class  feeling  and  social  hatred. 
I  have  long  believed  that  intellectual  and  moral  culture 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT         121 

is  of  comparatively  little  value,  unless  it  expresses  itself 
in  wise  active  work  for  the  good  of  others,  and  that 
little  work  of  this  sort  can  be  done  by  people  who  cher- 
ish in  their  hearts  a  sense  of  wrong,  or  of  hatred  to  any 
class  in  the  community.  I  was,  therefore,  extremely 
glad  when,  about  the  middle  of  the  winter,  I  received 
from  a  little  knot  of  our  young  men  the  following 
letter.     (I  omit  superscription  and  signature.) 

In  your  letter  of  May  23,  1899,  to  the  class,  you  mention  how 
pleased  you  would  be  to  have  us  form  into  a  society  for  practical 
work  on  a  basis  of  right  knowledge  and  right  will. 

Trusting  we  have  discovered  (very  largely  through  your  aid) 
a  spark  of  right  knowledge  and  more  of  right  will,  we  the  following 
four,  namely  (here  follow  the  names),  decided,  as  one  in  heart  and 
one  in  purpose,  to  take  the  initiative  step  toward  forming  such  a 
circle,  the  plan  to  be  drawn  by  you.  To  avoid  the  first  step  being 
taken  wrong,  we,  therefore,  must  look  to  you  to  map  out  our  duties, 
especially  in  the  beginning.  I  was,  therefore,  appointed  to  apprise 
you  of  our  earnest  good  will  and  desire  to  do  some  good  beyond 
ourselves,  and  also  to  request  you  to  give  us  some  consideration. 

L J expects  to  call  on  you  this  Friday  about  4.30  p.m. 

in  reference  to  this.  I  trust  you  will  give  him  the  encouragement 
we  look  to  receive  from  you. 

However,  if  you  may  consider  us  yet  unripe,  we  will  be  repaid 
through  your  advice  how  to  become  fitted  for  such  an  undertaking 
which  you  define  truly  as  "  very  difficult." 

We  have  the  will  —  show  us  the  way. 
.Wishing  you  much  improved  in  health,  I  am  very  truly  yours, 

X ^^Y 


As  soon  as  my  health  permitted,  I  invited  the  young 
men  to  spend  an  evening  in  my  rooms.     They  all  came  ^ 

^  Two  of  them  were  engaged  in  a  hat  factory,  one  was  a  book- 
keeper, and  one  a  student  in  the  City  College. 


122        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EAKNERS 

and  we  had  a  most  enjoyable  evening.  They  were  full 
of  quiet,  almost  solemn,  enthusiasm,  and  eager  to  begin 
work.  I  advised  them  for  the  present  to  begin  no  prac- 
tical work,  as  a  club,  but  to  do  what  they  could  individu- 
ally, and,  at  the  same  time,  to  unite  in  studying  the 
needs  and  conditions  of  the  East  Side,  their  own  capa- 
bilities, and  the  possible  methods  of  reaching  the  ends 
they  had  in  view.  I  offered  to  lend  them  some  books 
that  might  help  them,  and  then  added,  "  If  you  devote 
the  next  six  months  to  finding  out  what  needs  to  be 
done,  and  what  can  be  done,  it  will  be  time  well  spent. 
Next  winter  you  can  begin  work."  I  strongly  advised 
them  to  be  slow  in  adding  to  their  numbers,  and  to 
be  sure  that  their  new  members  were  in  full  sympathy 
with  their  spirit  and  purpose. 

The  little  club  followed  my  advice.  They  set  about 
gathering  information  from  all  quarters,  interviewing 
the  men  and  women  engaged  in  charitable  and  educa- 
tional work,  visiting  saloons,  pool  rooms,  etc.  They 
made  regular  written  reports  of  what  they  saw  and 
heard,  and  held  weekly  meetings  to  discuss  methods 
and  ideals.  They  spent  a  second  evening  with  me,  tell- 
ing me  what  they  had  done  and  what  they  proposed 
doing.     They  have  added  two  to  their  membership. 

While  some  of  the  young  men  were  thus  engaged,  a 
certain  number  of  the  young  women  were  doing  phil- 
anthropic work  individually,  taking  reckless  girls  off 
the  streets  and  inducing  them  to  read  and  think,  or 
giving  instruction  to  those  whose  education  had  been 
neglected  or  who  had  but  recently  arrived  in  the  coun- 
try.    By  my  advice  these  formed  themselves  into  a  club, 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT         123 

which  now  works  in  harmony  with  the  young  men's 
club,  without  uniting  with  it.  Each  will  probably  find 
a  special  sphere  of  action.  The  members  of  the  young 
women's  club  were  soon  in  great  demand  to  take  charge 
of  "circles"  and  "classes"  which  were  opened  in  the 
neighborhood.     So  much  for  philanthropic  work. 

With  a  view  to  breaking  down  class  feeling  and  social 
hatred,  I  arranged  a  couple  of  social  meetings,  to  which 
I  invited  a  number  of  wealthy  and  cultured  people,  bot-h 
Jews  and  Gentiles.  The  first  of  these  meetings  was 
held  in  the  large  handsome  studio  of  one  of  our  best 
known  sculptors,  which  proved  too  small  for  the  occa- 
sion. Nevertheless  we  spent  a  most  enjoyable  evening, 
with  music,  recitations,  addresses,  and  conversation.^ 

1  Mr.  Davidson's  account  of  the  movement  breaks  off  abruptly  at 
this  point.  A  continuation  of  the  story  of  its  development,  furnished 
by  members  of  the  class,  will  be  found  in  Chapter  VI. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  AS  SHOWN  IN  THE 
WEEKLY  LETTERS   TO   THE   CLASS 

Hurricane  P.O.,  Essex  County,  N.Y. 

May  4,  1899. 

To  THE  Class  in  History  and  Social  Science,  in  the  Educational 
Alliance,  New  York. 

Dear  Friends :  In  leaving  you  last  Saturday  evening 
I  felt  I  was  parting  not  so  much  from  a  class  as  from 
a  family.  You  have  all  become  very  dear  to  me,  and, 
whatever  the  future  may  bring,  your  welfare  will  always 
be  my  deepest  interest.  Your  parting  gifts  are  among 
my  dearest  possessions. 

I  am  hardly  settled  here  yet,  and  so  shall  not  be 
able  to  write  you  a  very  long  letter  this  week,  but  I 
cannot  let  a  Saturday  pass  without  sending  you  a  word. 
From  eight  to  ten  on  the  evening  of  the  6  th  I  shall 
be  with  you  every  moment.  I  trust  you  will  come 
together  that  evening,  and  every  succeeding  Saturday 
evening  till  I  return,  and  that  you  will  earnestly  pursue 
the  good  work  we  have  begun  together,  —  the  work  of 
endeavoring  to  be  simple,  upright,  pure,  heroic  men  and 
women,  rich  in  knowledge,  in  sympathy,  and  in  wise 
helpfulness.  You  know  that,  if  the  study  of  History 
and  Social  Science  do  not  lead  to  that,  it  is  all  in  vain. 
When  you  meet,  therefore,  you  will  do  so  as  friends, 

124 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  125 

who  have  each  other's  highest  good  at  heart ;  as  earnest 
workei-s  who,  havmg  a  common  end,  need  each  other's 
sympathy  and  aid.  You  will  avoid  all  wrangling  and 
disputes  and  cavilings,  and  do  your  best  to  help  each 
other  to  arrive  at  truth  and  to  embody  it  in  life. 
Nothing  is  more  frivolous  than  a  debating  society, 
nothing  more  serious  than  a  meeting  of  souls  bent 
upon  discovering  truth  to  live  by. 

And,  after  all,  if  we  will  but  lay  aside  prejudice 
and  superstition,  truth  is  not  so  hard  to  find.  Indeed, 
every  one  who  is  completely  honest  with  himself,  and 
is  not  swayed  by  tradition  or  passion,  may  truthfully 
say:  I  am  the  truth;  for  the  truth  is  but  the  expres- 
sion of  our  deepest  nature.  What  I  am  and  how  I  am 
related  to  my  fellows,  —  that  is  the  sum  of  the  truth 
for  me. 

You  will  perhaps  think  that  I  am  laying  out  a  mighty 
task  for  you,  a  task  far  above  your  powers  and  aspira- 
tions; but  it  is  not  so.  Every  great  change  in  indi- 
vidual and  social  ideals  —  and  we  are  on  the  verge  of 
such  a  change  —  begins  small,  among  simple,  earnest 
people,  face  to  face  with  the  facts  of  life.  Ask  your- 
selves seriously:  Why  should  not  the  coming  change 
begin  with  us  ?  Why  should  not  we  be  the  first  to  give 
expression  to  the  new  ideal  in  individual  and  social  life  ? 
And  you  will  find  there  is  no  reason.  The  new  world, 
the  world  of  righteousness,  kindliness,  and  enlighten- 
ment, for  which  we  are  all  longing  and  toiling,  may 
date  from  us  as  well  as  from  anybody.  We  have  only 
to  be  true  to  ourselves  and  the  future  is  ours.  To  be 
sure  we  do  not  count  among  the  great  and  the  mighty 


126        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

of  to-day ;  but  if  we  are  but  faithful  and  brave,  the  future 
will  judge  us  differently. 

We  see  dimly  in  the  Present  what  is  small  and  what  is  great ; 
Slow  of  faith,  how  weak  an  arm  may  turn  the  iron  helm  of  Fate. 

It  may  be  our  weak  arm  if  we  so  will  it.  Will  you 
will  it?  Then  go  to  work  bravely  and  uncomplain- 
ingly, looking  for  no  reward  but  the  reward  of  being 
good  men  and  women,  of  weighing  heavy  in  the  scales 
of  power.  Do  not  be  greatly  troubled  about  money 
making,  or  about  mere  economic  justice.  Money  is  but 
means,  and  economic  justice  can  never  come  till  men  are 
just  through  and  through.  Let  us  labor  then  for  justice, 
and  begin  by  being  just  ourselves.  Let  us  remember 
that,  until  we  love  each  other  in  all  sincerity,  we  cannot 
be  just  to  each  other.  Therefore,  let  us  love  each  other. 
Away  with  all  hatred,  envy,  and  jealousy  ! 

I  shall  try  to  write  to  you  every  week,  —  a  few  words 
to  be  read  aloud  to  the  class  when  it  meets.  I  shall  try 
to  suggest  work  for  you,  and  next  week  I  shall  send  you 
a  list  of  books  for  summer  reading.  This  week,  I  sug- 
gest that  some  one  read  or  recite  Lowell's  poem,  "  The 
Present  Crisis,'*  and  that  the  class  discuss  it.  It  is  a 
poem  that  every  one  should  learn  by  heart  and  lay  to 
heart. 

Let  me  hear  from  you  all  as  often  as  you  can.  Tell 
me  about  your  work,  and  send  me  your  essays  and  exer- 
cises. Those  of  you  who  have  already  written  to  me 
shall  hear  from  me  as  soon  as  possible.  I  shall  be  com- 
pletely settled  in  a  few  days,  and  then  things  will  move 
regularly. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  127 

I  wish  I  could  tell  you  how  beautiful  these  mountains 
are  and  what  peace  reigns  here.  But  you  must  come 
and  see  for  yourselves.  I  look  forward  to  your  visit 
with  much  pleasure  and  longing. 

I  am  always  your  friend  and  brother, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  May  9, 1899. 

My  dear  Friends:  I  am  happy  to  know  that  you 
had  a  good  meeting  on  Saturday  night.  I  was  with 
you  every  moment. 

You  did  well  to  discuss  Socrates,  that  greatest  of 
moral  heroes,  the  inventor  of  freedom  and  ethical  life. 
He  is  one  of  the  mighty,  and  it  is  well  to  live  with  the 
mighty.  Before  him,  men  had  obeyed  a  law  imposed 
from  without ;  Socrates  sought,  and  found,  the  source  of 
the  moral  law  within.  The  outer  law  enslaves  because 
it  is  not  our  law ;  the  inner  law  frees  because  it  is  our 
law.  By  obeying  myself  I  become  free.  The  moral 
law  is  nothing  more,  but  also  nothing  less,  than  the  law 
of  our  being  in  the  broadest  and  deepest  sense,  —  the 
law  of  harmony  within  and  harmony  without.  When 
all  the  parts  and  faculties  of  our  being  are  working 
together,  and  in  full  energy,  no  one  standing  in  the 
way  of  another,  then  we  are  truly  moral.  But  this  is 
impossible  unless  we  are  likewise  in  harmony  with  the 
world  about  us,  or,  to  speak  strictly,  the  world  organized 
in  our  consciousness.  If  I  hate  or  envy  my  neighbor, 
there  is  disharmony  in  me ;  I  am  weak  and  suffer. 
If  I  allow  my  feelings  or  passions  to  get  beyond  the 

V,  \  p*  p  -  't 

0¥   THE 


128        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

control  of  my  reason,  there  is  disharmony  in  me  ;  I  have 
lost  my  integrity  and  I  am  no  longer  an  integer.  I  am 
a  chaos  of  fragments,  and,  with  such  a  chaos,  no  true  life 
can  be  lived.  If  I  pursue  the  means  of  living  with  such 
devotion  as  to  forget  the  end,  I  am  once  more  in  dis- 
harmony with  myself.  I  am  leading  an  utterly  immoral 
life.  One  of  you  wrote  in  the  album,  "Out  of  the  scat- 
tered knowledge  within  me  you  have  made  a  cosmos." 
I  hope  I  am  not  vain  enough  to  make  any  such  lofty 
claim ;  but  the  friend  who  wrote  that  saw  into  my  deep- 
est intent,  and  grasped  a  principle  which  will  guide  all 
his  life  henceforth.  He  will  ever  strive  to  be  a  cosmos, 
and  that  is  what  each  of  us  should  be,  —  an  ordered 
world.  Each  of  us  should  be  able  to  say,  I  and  the 
world  are  one.  Be  an  integer;  be  a  cosmos!  —  that 
is  the  fundamental  moral  law. 

No  one  ever  saw  this  truth  more  clearly  than  Socrates ; 
none  ever  lived  up  to  it  more  unflinchingly.  He  was  all 
peace  within.  Neither  life  nor  death  had  any  terrors 
for  him.  The  world  that  for  others  was  a  chaos  was 
a  cosmos  for  him  because  there  was  a  cosmos  in  him. 
No  one  could  prevent  him  from  knowing  rightly,  loving 
rightly,  and  willing  rightly,  and  so  he  could  smile  at  the 
worst  his  chaotic  enemies  could  do  against  him.  They 
triumphed  for  an  hour.  He  triumphs  forever ;  and  even 
they  will  one  day  share  in  the  triumph.  He  is  the  father 
of  freedom  and  of  science  (the  two  are  inseparable),  and 
you  could  do  nothing  better  than  study  his  life  —  not  as 
an  authority,  but  as  an  example.  His  great  vision  was 
misinterpreted  and  marred  by  his  two  great  successors, 
Plato  and  Aristotle,  but,  through  all  their  clouds  of 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  129 

dogma  and  formalism,  we  can  still  see  the  true  Socrates, 
simple,  sincere,  heroic. 

I  send  you,  herewith,  a  list  of  twenty  books  for  sum- 
mer reading,  —  a  list  compiled  without  any  attempt  at 
order,  but  with  the  view  of  suiting  every  taste.^  It  would 
be  a  fine  thing  if  you  would  take  Martineau's  "  Types 
of  Ethical  Theory  '*  and  devote  an  hour  each  Saturday 
evening  to  a  discussion  of  it,  chapter  by  chapter.  Let 
the  chapters  be  distributed  among  the  class,  to  be  epit- 
omized and  presented  in  succession  for  consideration. 
You  will  find  such  work  extremely  stimulating  and 
enlightening,  and  I  will  do  all  I  can  to  help  you. 

I  send  you  also  a  little  essay  of  mine,  written  twelve 
years  ago,  but  still  substantially  representing  my  views 
on  education  —  "  The  Conditions,  Divisions,  and  Methods 
of  Complete  Education."  Some  Saturday  evening,  when 
you  have  nothing  better  to  do,  you  might  read  and  dis- 
cuss it.     Several  of  you,  I  know,  intend  to  be  teachers, 

1  Following  is  the  list  of  books  referred  to :  (1)  Schwegler,  "  His- 
tory of  Philosophy  "  (German  or  English);  (2)  Herodotus,  "  History  " 
(Rawlinson's  translation);  (3)  Cox,  "The  Greeks  and  the  Persians"  ; 
(4)  Dickinson,  "  The  Greek  View  of  Life  "  ;  (5)  Montesquieu,  "  Spirit 
of  the  Laws";  (6)  Freeman,  "Comparative  Politics";  (7)  White, 
"History  of  the  Warfare  of  Science  with  Theology";  (8)  Baldwin, 
"Mental  Development  in  the  Child  and  in  the  Race"  ;  (9)  Miiller 
(Max),  "Biographies  of  Words";  (10)  Ruskin,  "Unto  this  Last"; 

(11)  Wundt,    "Grundriss   der  Psychologic"   (German  or  English); 

(12)  Martineau,  "Types  of  Ethical  Theory";  (13)  Rogers,  "Six 
Centuries  of  Work  and  Wages";  (14)  George  Eliot,  "Romola"; 
(l5)  Tennyson,  "Idylls  of  the  King";  (16)  Davidson,  "Rousseau, 
and  Education  according  to  Nature";.  (17)  Darwin,  "The  Descent 
of  Man  "  ;  (18)  Stallo,  "  Concepts  and  Theories  of  Modern  Physics"; 
(19)  de  la  Saussaye,  "  Manual  of  the  Science  of  Religion  "  ;  (20)  Hux- 
ley, "Lay  Sermons,"  "Addresses  and  Reviews." 


130         EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

and  I  should  like  them  to  consider  what  can  be  done 
to  reform  our  educational  methods  and  ideals,  which  we 
all  feel  to  be  defective  and  far  behind  the  needs  of  our 
time.  Perhaps  some  day  we  may  be  able  together  to 
found  an  educational  institution  such  as  I  have  sketched, 
and  so  to  meet  a  crying  need.  Several  institutions  of 
the  sort  already  exist  in  England,  as  you  will  see  if 
you  read  M.  Demolins's  work,  "  L  'Education  Nouvelle." 
I  think  it  would  be  entirely  possible  to  improve  upon 
these  in  America,  and  to  found  institutions  which  should 
really  express  and  cultivate  the  national  spirit  of  free 
individuality. 

You  see,  I  am  expecting  great  things  of  you.  I  want 
you  to  feel  that  there  is  just  as  much  chance  for  heroes, 
saints,  and  prophets  at  the  present  day  as  there  ever  was. 
All  the  divine  that  ever  was  in  the  world  is  in  it  still. 
The  world  did  not  look  any  more  heroic  in  the  days  of 
Isaiah,  Simon  Maccabseus,  or  Caesar  than  it  does  now. 
But  they  were  heroes,  all  the  same,  and  so  you  can  be  if 
you  will.  Most  of  you  have  stood,  or  are  still  standing, 
"face  to  face  with  life's  prime  needs  and  agonies,"  and 
that  is  an  education  for  goodness  and  greatness  such  as 
it  is  impossible  to  match.  All  depends  upon  yourselves. 
You  can  be  pygmies  or  giants,  just  as  you  please. 

I  shall  be  with  you  next  Saturday  evening,  and  am 

^  '  Affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  131 

Hurricane,  May  17,  1899. 

My  dear  Friends:  Nothing  could  give  me  greater 
pleasure  than  to  know  that  you  are  conducting  fruitful 
meetings  in  my  absence.  The  sooner  a  teacher  makes 
himself  useless  the  better.  It  is  a  great  fault  with 
some  teachers  that  they  remain  always  necessary.  I  do 
not  wish  to  count  among  these,  but  hope  to  be  obliter- 
ated in  a  short  time.  It  has  always  been  my  aim  to 
make  my  pupils  self-directing  at  the  earliest  moment. 

Some  of  you,  I  understand,  do  not  agree  with  my 
views  regarding  Plato  and  his  socialistic  "  Republic." 
I  am  very  glad  to  hear  that,  and  hope  you  will  oppose 
them  with  all  your  might,  taking  care,  however,  to 
inform  yourselves  carefully  as  to  what  Plato  really 
taught.  I  think  I  once  recommended  the  "  Republic  " 
to  the  class  as  a  book  to  read.  In  combating  views, 
you  will,  of  course,  do  so  in  a  spirit  of  earnestness  and 
fairness,  refraining  from  all  personalities  and  all  asperity. 
If  you  can  show  me  that  my  views  regarding  Plato  are 
wrong,  I  shall  be  proud  to  learn  from  you,  and  shall  alter 
my  statements  in  the  next  edition  of  my  book.  Will 
not  some  of  you  tell  me  what  views  of  mine  you  think 
incorrect,  showing  me  the  passages  in  the  "  Republic  " 
which  are  opposed  to  them  ?  We  can  then  have  a  very 
profitable  discussion. 

In  Plato's  time  people  in  Greece  were  beginning 
to  think  seriously  about  social  institutions,  which  had 
previously  been  accepted  as  a  matter  of  course.  As 
always  happens  under  such  circumstances,  they  found 
their  ideal  in  a  socialistic  state,  in  which  everything 
was  to  be  regulated,  and  every  one's  place  fixed,  with 


132        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

mathematical  exactness.  All  immature  thinking  tends 
to  be  mathematical.  In  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries,  when  men  for  the  second  time  were  beginning 
to  think  critically  about  social  institutions,  numerous 
schemes  of  ideal  socialistic  states  were  proposed  by 
Campanella,  More,  Bacon,  and  others.  But,  in  all 
cases,  mature  thought  rejected  these  youthful  schemes, 
and  recognized  that  human  institutions  are  governed 
i  by  laws  that  set  at  defiance  the  imagined  Utopias  of 
any  one  man.  Plato  himself,  toward  the  close  of  his 
life,  practically  discarded  his  ideal  socialistic  "Repub- 
lic," and  worked  out  a  scheme  far  more  in  accordance 
with  reality.  It  is  very  instructive  to  compare  the 
"Republic"  with  the  later  "Laws." 

Various  attempts  were  made,  in  ancient  times,  to 
realize  Plato's  "  Republic  "  (for  example  by  Plotinus) ; 
but  nothing  ever  came  of  them.  The  only  realization 
it  has  ever  found  is  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  the 
Middle  Age,  whose  constitution  I  should  advise  all 
admirers  of  Plato  to  study. 

I  sincerely  trust  that  the  socialistic  members  of  the 
class,  if  there  be  any,  will  not  imagine  that  I  have  any 
prejudice  against  them.  Far  from  it.  It  is  true,  I  do 
not  find  it  possible  to  be  a  socialist  myself,  but  many 
of  my  friends  are,  and  I  believe  that  the  socialist  move- 
ment has  done  much  good  in  arousing  the  world  to  a 
sense  of  the  injustice  due  to  present  social  arrangements, 
and  also  that  it  is  a  step  toward  something  very  much 
better,  —  something  which,  while  giving  an  opportunity 
to  every  human  being  to  attain  the  highest  develop- 
ment (which  is  also  the  highest  happiness),  will  leave 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  133 

individual  liberty  and  initiative  tincurtailed.  The  dis- 
covery of  that  higher  something  is  really  the  problem 
of  the  present  day.  Which  of  you  can  think  out  a 
scheme  which  shall  embody  all  the  advantages  of  social- 
ism combined  with  all  the  advantages  of  anarchism ;  all 
the  blessings  of  material  well-being  combined  with  all 
the  blessings  of  liberty? 

In  trying  to  do  so,  you  must  bear  in  mind  that  your 
scheme  must  not  be  stationary,  but  progressive,  —  must 
leave  room  for  evolution.  The  scheme  of  Plato,  and 
those  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  were 
all  stationary,  leaving  no  place  for  progressive  change,  — 
for  evolution.  Indeed,  the  notion  of  evolution,  in  its 
modern  sense,  had  not  yet  dawned  upon  men.  Now  it 
is  the  most  important  and  fruitful  of  all  notions.  No 
social  system  can  be  permanent  without  being  fatal. 
Every  one  must  change  by  evolution,  or  revolution. 
All  life  is  change.  Our  very  bodies,  if  they  should 
cease  to  change  for  one  minute,  would  die.  What  is 
all  legislation  but  formulated  social  change? 

Another  thing  must  be  carefully  borne  in  mind,  viz., 
that  any  scheme,  to  be  of  use,  must  be  realizable ;  and 
this  implies  two  things,  first,  that  it  take  full  account 
of  present  conditions,  that  is,  the  conditions  which  have 
to  be  transformed ;  second,  that  it  pay  due  regard  to 
all  the  demands  of  human  nature,  since  these  are  the 
very  things  which  the  new  conditions  have  to  satisfy. 
It  is  easy  to  see  that  our  present  conditions  are  such 
that  no  scheme  of  pure  socialism,  or  pure  anarchism,  has 
any  chance  of  realization,  no  matter  how  ideally  just 
it  might  be.     Again,  a  scheme  which  provided  only  for 


134        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

man's  material  needs,  important  as  these  are,  would 
have  no  chance  of  success.  Human  nature  demands 
more  than  food,  clothing,  and  shelter,  no  matter  how 
rich  and  elaborate  these  may  be.  Indeed,  the  higher 
human  nature  rises,  the  more  do  these  lose  in  compar- 
ative importance.  What  good  man  or  woman  would 
care  to  remain  on  the  vulgar  level  of  fashionable  society, 
to  belong  to  the  "Four  Hundred"  who  revel  in  eco- 
nomic wealth,  but  in  higher  respects  are  beggars?  A 
scheme  to  place  all  the  people  of  New  York  on  the 
level  of  the  "  Four  Hundred  "  would  fail,  as  it  certainly 
ought  to  do, 

I  am  glad  to  hear  that  you  are  going  to  discuss  my 

little   pamphlet,   and   that   Professor  G is  going 

to  lecture  for  you. 

I  am  always  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  May  23,  1899. 

My  dear  Friends :  I  am  much  pleased  to  learn  that, 
at  your  last  meeting,  the  idea  of  forming  yourselves 
into  a  society  for  practical  work  was  mooted.  That 
is  the  result  I  have  been  aiming  at ;  for,  after  all,  it  is 
by  its  practice  that  any  association  is  finally  judged. 
If  our  meetings  and  studies  do  not  result  in  noble  lives 
and  beneficent  work,  we  have  met  and  studied  in  vain. 

I  am  glad  you  like  the  programme  of  the  "Fellow- 
ship of  the  New  Life  "  which  I  sent  to  several  of  you. 
Ere  it  could  become  the  basis  of  your  society,  several 
things  in  it  would  have  to  be  removed,  or  modified. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  135 

I  could  point  these  out;  but  you  would  do  well  to 
consider  it  sentence  by  sentence  and  clause  by  clause. 
To  form  a  society  that  shall  accomplish  permanent 
good  among  mankind  is,  as  I  know  from  experience, 
very  difficult.  If  the  first  steps  be  false,  all  will  be 
false  and  vain.  Two  things,  above  all,  are  requisite,  — 
clear  insight  into  what  is  needful  and  possible,  and 
single-minded  determination  to  realize  the  same;  in 
a  word,  right  knowledge  and  right  will.  No  associa- 
tion can  do  permanent  good  which  does  not  under- 
stand human  nature,  human  society,  and  the  forces 
which  govern  them,  or  which  does  not  clearly  realize 
the  nature  and  conditions  of  human  well-being.  The 
same  is  true  of  any  society  which  has  not  the  purity 
and  strength  of  will  to  set  aside  all  merely  personal 
interests,  and  devote  itself  to  the  tEisk  which  it  recog- 
nizes. The  great  requisites  are  scientific  insight  and 
apostolic  fervor.  With  these,  wonders  may  be  done. 
Your  society,  therefore,  should  aim  at  knowledge, 
through  study  and  experience,  and  at  enthusiasm  and 
self-forgetfulness,  through  sympathy  and  love.  You 
should  begin  with  yourselves,  making  sure  that  your 
society  is  one  in  heart,  and  one  in  purpose.  In  a  word, 
you  must  love  one  another  as  brothers  and  sisters,  and 
as  citizens  of  a  republic  that  doth  not  yet  appear,  but 
which  you  are  determined  to  -create.  Love  is  boundless 
power.  It  has  been  said  "  God  is  love,"  and  I  suspect 
that  it  is  the  only  correct  definition.  He  who  has  true, 
unselfish  love  in  his  heart  is  inspired  by  God,  has  God 
dwelling  in  him.  Having  learned  to  love  one  another, 
you  will  find  it  is  not  so  hard  to  love  other  people,  even 


136        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

those  who  are  now  repellent  to  you.  Compassion  will 
take  the  place  of  alienation,  and  your  only  thought  will 
be,  How  can  we  help  these  poor,  unlovely  souls  to 
truth  and  goodness?  You  must  remember  that  these 
80uls  are  parts  of  your  world,  blemishes  which,  for  the 
sake  even  of  your  own  souls,  you  must  remove.  One 
of  you  spoke  of  the  East  Side  as  a  "hell."  If  that 
be  true,  then  each  of  you  has  a  hell  in  his  world.  Are 
you  willing  to  have  that?  Think  how  much  more 
glorious  your  lives  would  be  if  the  East  Side  were 
a  heaven?  Christians  have,  for  nearly  two  thousand 
years,  been  praying  to  God,  "  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth 
as  it  is  done  in  heaven,"  and  earth  is  not  a  heaven  yet, 
and  will  not  be  until  we  substitute  earnest  work  for 
prayer,  —  until,  with  knowledge  and  enthusiasm,  we 
form  a  league,  a  conspiracy  against  ignorance,  selfishness, 
and  wickedness.    Your  society  must  be  such  a  league. 

We  have  already  done  something  to  increase  knowl- 
edge among  ourselves,  and  the  result,  I  am  happy  to 
think,  has  been  a  growth  of  enthusiasm.  We  are  on 
the  right  path,  and  I  think  I  see  how  we  can  advance 
farther  on  it.  I  think  we  are  even  now  where  we  might 
begin  some  practical  work  in  a  quiet,  unobtrusive  way. 
The  question  is,  What  work  ?  Perhaps  you  can  answer 
that  question  better  than  I  can.  You  know  the  needs 
and  conditions  of  the  East  Side  better  than  I  do.  One 
thing  is  certain, — you  can  all  be  in  your  own  lives  models 
of  kindness,  helpfulness,  and  strength.  You  can  each 
be  a  living  light  in  dark  places.  You  can  overcome  evil 
with  good,  and  make  the  evil  ashamed  of  itself.  Per- 
haps each  of  you  knows  of  some  one  lonely,  suffering, 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  137 

or  erring  soul  that  would  be  glad  of  sympathy,  help,  or 
counsel.  Give  that  soul  what  it  needs ;  win  it  over  to 
friendliness,  contentment,  and  goodness,  and  you  will 
have  done  a  good  work.  Perhaps  you  know  of  some 
family  in  which  the  father  is  dissipated,  drunken,  or  out 
of  work,  and  the  mother  is  slaving  her  life  away,  unable 
to  take  care  of  her  children  or  her  home.  Go  and  offer 
her  your  help,  simply  and  sweetly,  as  if  she  were  your 
sister.  Take  care  of  her  children  for  an  hour,  wash 
them,  comb  their  hair,  and  amuse  them.  Put  her  home 
in  order;  scrub  the  floors  if  necessary;  clean  the  win- 
dows. Make  her  feel  that  angels  of  light  are  entering 
when  you  *'dawn  through  the  doorway."  Remember 
that  no  work,  however  menial  or  coarse,  is  degrading,  if 
performed  in  the  spirit  of  love.  Perhaps  some  of  you 
could  gather  a  few  of  the  children  out  of  the  street,  for 
an  hour  or  two,  into  your  homes,  and  instruct  them.  To 
the  older  children  you  might  read.  If  you  do  work  of 
this  sort,  your  own  lives  will  grow  in  interest  and  hap- 
piness, and  you  will  find  those  whom  you  help  ready  to 
listen  to  your  truth.  Truth  practiced  before  spoken  is 
very  impressive. 

When  we  have  advanced  a  little  farther  we  shall,  I 
hope,  undertake  larger  tasks ;  but  those  I  have  men- 
tioned form  an  excellent  preparation.  If  I  am  strong 
enough  next  winter,  I  hope  to  give  a  course  of  Sunday 
lectures  at  the  Alliance,  and,  in  these,  to  sketch  a  plan 
for  practical  work.  But  I  can  say  now,  that  any  plan 
worth  undertaking  must  rest  upon  a  new  view  of  the 
world  and  of  man's  relation  to  it,  —  a  view  based  upon 
the  most  comprehensive  science  and  philosophy.     That 


138        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

view  will  tell  us  that  we,  instead  of  being  mere  created 
things  subject  to  divine  caprice,  are  ourselves  divine,  and 
that,  instead  of  worshiping  God,  our  business  is  to  live 
God.  It  will  call  upon  us  to  do  for  ourselves  and  others 
what  we  formerly  besought  God  to  do  ;  in  a  word,  to  bear 
ourselves  as  gods,  to  be  holy,  pure,  righteous,  merciful, 
helpful.  Moreover,  it  will  call  upon  us  to  make  a  heaven 
here  on  earth.  Where  there  are  divine  beings  there 
ought  to  be  a  heaven,  and  we  are  divine.  Our  suffering 
and  erring  brothers  and  sisters  too  are  divine,  and  there 
can  be  no  perfect  heaven  for  any  of  us  until  all  are  cit- 
izens of  it.  If  we  could  only  look  upon  ourselves  and 
our  fellow-men  in  this  light,  how  we  should  be  inspired 
to  work  for  the  realization  of  heaven !  How  all  selfish- 
ness, hatred,  vanity,  envy  would  disappear !  How  love, 
sympathy,  blessedness  would  grow !  It  is  no  wonder 
that  when  man  regards  himself  as  a  fallen  being,  an  out- 
cast from  Eden,  a  worm  of  the  dust,  he  should  behave 
himself  as  such.  Let  him  believe  that  he  is  a  god  in  the 
making,  and  he  will  behave  accordingly.  He  will  feel 
what  is  due  to  his  own  divinity,  and  will  be  ashamed 
to  stoop  to  selfish  or  unworthy  deeds.  I  shall  have 
much  more  to  say  of  this  hereafter,  when  we  are  again 
together. 

I  am  sorry  that  my  pamphlet  on  education  is  out  of 
print ;  but  I  send  you  the  few  copies  that  remain  in  my 
possession. 

I  am  very  glad  that  Dr.  E is  going  to  lecture  to 

you.  He  lives  the  life  that  I  should  wish  you  all  to 
lead.  Like  a  divinity,  he  is  doing  his  best  to  make  a 
heaven  upon  earth.     I  trust  you  will  often  have  the 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  139 

opportunity  of  listening  both  to  him,  and  to  Professor 

G ,  who  will  be  with  you  next  Saturday. 

I  am  longing  to  see  you  all  again.  But,  while  I  am 
away  from  you,  I  am  made  very  happy  by  the  thought 
that  you  are  looking  forward  to  earnest  work. 

I  am  always  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  May  31, 1899. 

My  dear  Friends:    I  was  greatly  pleased  to  hear 

about  Professor  G 's  lecture,  and  about  the  hearty 

reception  you  gave  him. 

I  have  no  doubt  he  enjoyed  meeting  you  very  much. 

I  know  that  Mr.  A ,  who  accompanied  him,  did ;  for 

in  a  letter  he  says :  "  I  had  my  eyes  opened  to  new  con- 
ditions. I  have  not  met  so  earnest  a  body  of  young 
women  and  men  in  a  long  time."  That  is  the  report 
I  want  to  hear.  Give  me  earnestness,  and  I  can  do 
anything. 

I  am  happy  to  know  that  my  dear  friend  Dr.  W is 

going  to  talk  to  you.  He  will  prove  worthy  of  his  name, 
I  have  no  doubt.     He  is  a  man  with  a  great  future. 

As  I  sit  here  on  my  veranda,  in  these  beautiful 
woods,  facing  the  sunset,  I  think  of  you  all  in  the  hot 
city,  with  its  dust  and  noise  and  ugliness,  many  of  you 
engaged  in  uncongenial  occupations,  and  I  feel  almost 
ashamed  of  myself  for  not  being  with  you.  My  only 
comfort  and  excuse  is,  that  I  am  doing  my  best  to  gain 
strength  and  lay  plans  to  be  more  useful  to  you  in  the 
future.    Not  an  hour  passes  but  I  think  of  you,  and  wish 


140        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

I  were  with  you.  And  yet  I  rejoice  to  think  that  you 
are  doing  such  good  work  without  me.  You  are  not 
dependent  upon  any  man  or  men. 

I  have  no  doubt  there  is  many  an  hour  when  you 
feel  that  your  lives  are  cramped,  and  that  you  have  not 
the  opportunities  for  self-development  that  you  ought 
to  have.  That  is  a  right  and  a  worthy  feeling.  I  have 
felt  it  many  a  time,  for  there  is  not  one  among  you 
whose  circumstances  are  more  adverse  or  unpromising 
than  mine  were  in  boyhood  and  youth.  I  have  had  to 
fight  single-handed  for  everything:  for  livelihood,  for 
education,  for  culture,  yea,  for  moral  life.  My  sym- 
pathies, therefore,  go  out  to  you  in  all  your  toils,  strug- 
gles, and  aspirations.  I  am  one  of  you,  and  am  proud 
to  be  one  of  you. 

I  tell  you  this  because  I  think  my  long,  hard  fight, 
and  partial  victory,  have  taught  me  the  way  to  over- 
come adverse  circumstances,  and  make  life  not  only 
worth  living,  but  the  greatest  of  blessings.  Perhaps 
I  may  best  express  the  results  of  my  experience  in  a 
few  numbered  sentences,  or  aphorisms: 

1.  Rely  upon  yourself  and  your  own  energies,  and 
do  not  wait  for,  or  depend  upon,  other  people. 

2.  Cling,  with  all  your  might,  to  your  own  highest 
ideals,  and  be  not  led  astray  by  such  vulgar  aims  as 
wealth,  position,  popularity,  etc.     Be  yourself. 

3.  Remember  that  your  worth  consists  in  what  you 
are,  and  not  in  what  you  have.  What  you  are  will 
show  in  what  you  do. 

4.  Never  fret,  repine,  or  envy.  Do  not  make  your- 
self unhappy  by  comparing  your  circumstances  with 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  141 

tliose  of  more  fortunate  people ;  but  make  the  most  of 
the  opportunities  you  have.  Employ  profitably  every 
moment  of  time, 

5.  Associate  with  the  noblest  people  you  can  find; 
read  the  best  books ;  live  with  the  mighty.  But  learn 
to  be  happy  alone. 

6.  Do  not  believe  that  all  greatness  and  heroism  are 
in  the  past.  Learn  to  discover  princes,  prophets,  heroes, 
and  saints  among  the  people  about  you.  Be  assured 
they  are  there. 

7.  Be  on  earth  what  good  people  hope  to  be  in 
heaven. 

8.  Cultivate  ideal  friendships,  and  gather  into  an 
intimate  circle  all  your  acquaintances  who  are  hunger- 
ing for  truth  and  right.  Remember  that  heaven  itself 
can  be  nothing  but  the  intimacy  of  pure  and  noble 
souls. 

9.  Do  not  shrink  from  any  useful  or  kindly  act, 
however  hard  or  repellent  it  may  be.  The  worth  of  acts 
is  measured  by  the  spirit  in  which  they  are  performed. 

10.  If  the  world  despise  you  because  you  do  not  fol- 
low in  its  ways,  pay  no  heed  to  it.  But  be  sure  your 
way  is  right. 

11.  If  a  thousand  plans  fail,  be  not  disheartened.  As 
long  as  your  purposes  are  right,  you  have  not  failed. 

12.  Examine  yourself  every  night,  and  see  whether 
you  have  progressed  in  knowledge,  sympath)^  and  help- 
fulness during  the  day.  Count  every  day  a  loss  in 
which  no  progress  has  been  made. 

13.  Seek  enjoyment  in  energy,  not  in  dalliance. 
Our  worth  is  measured  solely  by  what  we  do. 


142        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

14.  Let  not  your  goodness  be  professional ;  let  it  be 
the  simple,  natural  outcome  of  your  character.  There- 
fore, cultivate  character. 

15.  If  you  do  wrong,  say  so,  and  make  what  atone- 
ment you  can.  That  is  true  nobleness.  Have  no 
moral  debts. 

16.  When  you  are  in  doubt  how  to  act,  ask  yourself. 
What, does  nobility  command?  Be  on  good  terms  with 
yourself. 

17.  Look  for  no  reward  for  goodness  but  goodness 
itself.  Remember  heaven  and  hell  are  utterly  immoral 
institutions  if  they  are  meant  as  reward  and  punishment. 

18.  Give  whatever  countenance  and  help  you  can 
to  every  movement  and  institution  that  is  working  for 
good.     Be  not  sectarian. 

19.  Wear  no  placards,  within  or  without.  Be  human 
fully. 

20.  Never  be  satisfied  until  you  have  understood 
the  meaning  of  the  world,  and  the  purpose  of  your  own 
life,  and  have  reduced  your  world  to  a  rational  cosmos. 

These  are  the  precepts  by  which  I  have  tried  to  guide 
my  life.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  I  have  often  failed 
to  obey  them  ;  but  I  can  say  that  I  never  did  so  with- 
out deep  regret  and  suffering.  They  have  made  life 
very  glorious.  It  could  do  you  no  harm,  I  think,  to  try 
to  live  by  them. 

Now  good-bye.     I  may  see  you  sooner  than  I  thought. 

I  am  most  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  143 

Hurricane,  June  7,  1899. 

My  dear  Friends:   I  was  very  sorry  to  learn  that 

Dr.  E was  not  with  you  last  Saturday,  for  I  was 

sure  you  would  enjoy  listening  to  him.  I  hear  that 
some  of  you  objected  to  certain  statements  in  my  little 
pamphlet  on  education.  Probably  I  should**  now  do 
the  same  thing,  for  I  have  learned  some  things  in  the 
last  ten  years,  and  it  is  more  than  that  since  the  pam- 
phlet was  written.  I  shall  be  satisfied  if  it  has  given 
occasion  for  a  good  discussion  on  the  meaning  and  scope 
of  education. 

I  learn  that  the  question  of  your  doing  something  as 
a  club  was  again  up  before  you.  That  is  a  most  encour- 
aging sign,  and  I  hope  you  will  go  on  till  you  find  an 
appropriate  task.  I  believe  that  all  true  association 
has  for  its  bond  a  task,  —  something  definite  to  do.  The 
question  you  have  to  piit  to  yourselves  is.  What  is  there 
needing  to  be  done  that  we  can  do  ?  Having  answered 
that,  you  will  do  well  to  consider  whether  you  can  work 
best  individually,  or  as  a  club,  or  both  ways.  You  must 
see  around  you  much  that  needs  to  be  reformed;  per- 
haps some  of  you  are  fitted  for  one  thing,  some  for 
another.  Let  each  undertake  what  he  can  do  best,  and 
compare  notes  with  all  the  rest. 

But  there  is  one  task  which  you  certainly  can  under- 
take now  with  reasonable  hope  of  success,  and  that  is, 
the  establishment  of  ideal  relations  among  yourselves. 
There  is  nothing  that  the  world  of  to-day  needs  so  much 
as  a  new  order  of  social  relations,  —  a  new  feeling  between 
man  and  man.  We  may  talk  and  teach  as  long  as 
we  like,  but  until  we  have  a  new  society,  with  ideal 


144         EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

relations  and  aims,  we  have  accomplished  very  little. 
All  great  world  movements  begin  with  a  little  knot  of 
people  who,  in  their  individual  lives,  and  in  their  rela- 
tions to  each  other,  realize  the  ideal  that  is  to  be.  To 
live  truth  is  better  than  to  utter  it.  Isaiah  would  have 
prophesied  in  vain,  had  he  not  gathered  around  him  a 
little  band  of  disciples  who  lived  according  to  his  ideal. 
"  The  formation  of  this  little  community,"  says  one  of 
our  greatest  scholars,  "  was  a  new  thing  in  the  history 
of  religion.  Till  then  no  one  had  dreamed  of  a  fellow- 
ship of  faith  dissociated  from  all  national  forms,  main- 
tained without  the  exercise  of  ritual  services,  bound 
together  by  faith  in  the  divine  word  alone.  It  was  the 
birth  of  a  new  era  in  the  Old  Testament  religion."  It 
was  out  of  this  little  community  that  Judaism  with  its 
law  and  its  world-wide  significance  grew.  Again,  what 
would  the  teaching  of  Jesus  have  amounted  to,  had  he 
not  collected  a  body  of  disciples  who  made  it  their  life 
aim  to  put  his  teachings  into  practice?  To  nothing, 
we  may  be  sure.  These  disciples  were  called  "  saints  " 
(ayioL),  and  we  possess  a  very  early  description  of  their 
mode  of  life  in  a  letter  addressed  to  some  of  them. 
Here  are  a  few  sentences  from  it :  "  Ye  were  all  lovely 
in  mind  and  free  from  arrogance,  yielding  rather  than 
claiming  submission,  more  glad  to  give  than  to  receive. 
.  .  .  Then  a  profound  and  rich  peace  was  given  to 
all,  and  an  insatiable  desire  of  doing  good.  ...  Ye 
were  sincere  and  simple,  and  free  from  malice  one 
toward  another.  ...  Ye  mourned  over  the  transgres- 
sions of  your  neighbors ;  ye  judged  their  shortcomings 
to  be  your  own.     Ye  repented  not  of  any  welldoing, 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  ♦       145 

but  were  ready  for  every  good  work."     These  are  ideal 
relations,  worthy  of  saints. 

I  might  easily  multiply  examples,  but  these  two  will 
suffice  to  show  the  extreme  value  of  ideal  association. 
But  you  will  perhaps  say,  "  Yes,  but,  in  both  cases,  the 
society  was  bound  together,  not  only  by  a  purpose  or 
task,  but  also  by  a  series  of  ethical  precepts,  and  by 
certain  supernatural  beliefs,"  and  you  will  ask,  "  What 
can  we  have  in  the  place  of  these  ?  "  The  statement  is 
correct,  and  the  question  pertinent.  I  think  it  would 
be  quite  possible  to  frame  a  new  series  of  ethical  pre- 
cepts which  should  do  for  our  time  what  the  Deutero- 
nomic  law  did  for  the  time  of  Isaiah,  and  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  for  that  of  Jesus.  There  would  be  no  harm 
in  your  trying  to  do  so.  Again,  the  place  of  super- 
natural beliefs  must  now  be  taken  by  scientific  and  philo- 
sophic truth  regarding  man's  nature,  origin,  and  destiny, 
and  I  believe  the  latter  is  quite  able  to  fill  that  place. 
Faith  never  promised  us  anything  which  science  cannot 
assure  us  of.  What  a  fine  thing  it  would  be  if,  in  a 
quiet,  reverent  spirit,  "free  from  arrogance,"  you  were 
to  consider  together,  first,  the  moral  law  demanded  by 
the  present ;  second,  the  scientific  bases  for  those  truths 
which  are  required  to  give  life  a  meaning,  and  to  make 
the  world  a  cosmos.  The  effect  of  such  discussions,  car- 
ried on  earnestly,  would  be  most  edifying  and  ennobling, 
especially  if  you  steadily  endeavored  to  agree  with  each 
other,  instead  of  trying  to  differ.  You  will  perhaps  say, 
"  Such  things  are  too  high  for  us."  Let  me  answer  in 
the  words  of  the  eighth  psalm,  "  Out  of  the  mouth  of 
babes  and  sucklings  thou  hast  created  power." 


146        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

When,  after  careful  consideration,  you  have  framed 
a  new  moral  law,  such  as  you  feel  ought  to  prevail,  the 
next  thing  is,  to  bind  yourselves  to  live  up  to  it.  That 
will,  no  doubt,  require  a  considerable  amount  of  disci- 
pline, and  to  this  you  must  enthusiastically  submit. 
All  new  life  ideals  have  been  reached  through  disci- 
pline, much  of  it  painful.     Are  you  ready  for  this? 

If  you  undertake  the  task  I  have  suggested,  you  will 
soon  find  that  it  involves  many  others.  Your  new 
Torah  (n*lTri)  will  inevitably  entail  upon  you  many 
duties  and  tasks.  Just  think  of  the  effect  of  such  a 
commandment  as  this,  "Be  all  that  thou  canst  be, 
and  do  all  that  thou  canst  do,  at  every  moment ; "  or 
this,  "Thou  shalt  hold  thyself,  in  thy  degree,  respon- 
sible for  all  the  evil  and  suffering  there  is  in  the 
world ;  "  or  this,  "  Forget  not  that  the  more  wicked  and 
vile  a  man  is,  the  more  he  needs  thy  kindly  care." 

Think  these  things  over,  and  believe  me 

Affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 


Hurricane,  June  14,  1899. 

My  dear  Friends:    I   am    much   pleased   to    know 

that  Dr.  W was  with  you  last  Saturday;   but  I 

fear  you  were  not  quite  sympathetic  toward  his  ideas. 
I  must  confess  that  I  am,  as  you  can  see  from  my 
lecture  published  recently  in  the  American  Hehreiv. 
I  have  there  given  my  reasons  for  favoring  Zionism. 

I  think  the  objections  to  Zionism  are  due  mainly  to 
a  misunderstanding  of  its  aims.     Some  people  seem  to 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  147 

think  that  it  aims  at  removing  the  whole  of  the  Jews  to 
Palestine.  This  is  an  entire  mistake.  Others  think  that 
Zionism  has  its  origin  and  meaning  in  the  old  prophets. 
This  is  again  a  mistake.  Some  of  you  think  it  would 
stand  in  the  way  of  more  universal  schemes.  I  cannot  see 
why  it  should.  Some  of  you,  who  favor  universal  level- 
ing, are  afraid  that  any  distinction  between  peoples  would 
stand  in  the  way  of  that.  In  my  opinion,  universal  level- 
ing would  be  a  great  calamity,  a  degradation.  All  evo- 
lution goes  toward  unity  and  harmony  in  variety.  For 
the  highest  order  of  being  the  variety  is  just  as  necessary 
as  the  unity.  To  reduce  all  men  and  peoples  to  a  com- 
mon type  would  be  like  playing  a  piece  of  music  on  one 
note.  This  would  be  admirably  simple,  but  utterly  mo- 
notonous and  dreary.  For  my  part,  I  should  like  to  see 
the  Hebrews  retain  their  characteristics,  just  as  I  like  to 
see  my  own  countrymen  do.  Even  the  climatic  condi- 
tions of  our  globe  make  differences  of  race  characteristics 
a  necessity.  If  the  Jews  should  be  absorbed  now,  this 
would  mean  that  they  would  become  Christians,  which  in 
my  opinion  is  very  undesirable.  The  Jewish  religion  is 
far  more  rational  than  the  Christian,  and,  indeed.  Chris- 
tians, as  they  advance,  come  nearer  and  nearer  to  Judaism. 
No  doubt,  in  the  future,  all  traditional  supernaturalism 
and  miraculism  will  disappear,  and  men  will  meet  upon 
a  common  scientific  and  rational  ground ;  but  that  day  is 
far  off,  and  even  when  it  comes  it  will  not  blot  out  race 
differences.  The  Jews  owe  it  to  themselves  and  to 
humanity  to  hold  their  own  against  the  all-devouring 
dogmatism  of  Christianity.  They  have  done  a  great  work 
in  the  past,  and  they  can  do  a  great  work  in  the  future. 


148        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

Different  religions  and  social  types  belong  to  differ- 
ent grades  of  mental  and  moral  development.  To  think 
that  we  can  impose  one  type  upon  all  men  is  utterly 
chimerical.  One  should  be  too  religious  to  profess  any 
one  religion ;  too  social  to  be  content  with  any  one  type 
of  society.  As  time  goes  on,  men  will,  no  doubt,  under- 
stand each  other  better;  but  unless  the  interaction  of 
different  ideals,  so  necessary  to  progress,  is  to  cease, 
wide  differences,  both  individual  and  racial,  must  for- 
ever remain.  The  very  interest  of  life  is  due  to  its 
variety.  Though  I  should  like  to  see  the  Jews  drop 
their  supernaturalism,  I  should  be  very  sorry  to  see 
them  lost  in  the  great  sea  of  Christian  society.  It 
must  be  clearly  borne  in  mind  that  universal  human 
well-being  does  not  mean  universal  leveling,  or  the 
obliteration  of  all  institutions  but  one.  Plato  tried  to 
make  the  state  all  in  all;  but  he  lived  long  enough 
to  see  the  impracticability  of  this.  And  just  as  the 
family  must  continue  to  exist  in  the  state,  so,  I  hope, 
the  Jews  will  continue  to  live  in  the  great  family  of 
the  nations.  I  do  not  believe  that  anything  would  be 
gained  by  merging  the  states  of  the  American  Union 
into  one.  But  I  have  expressed  all  this  better  in  my 
lecture,  which  I  hope  you  will  read. 

When  I  was  talking  to  you  in  the  winter  I  tried  to 
show  you  that  there  is  not  much  use  in  striving  after 
impossible  ideals,  or  of  seeking  reform  without  taking 
due  account  of  that  which  you  desire  to  reform.  We 
may  cherish  Utopian  ideals  in  our  bosoms  as  much  as 
we  like,  placing  them  in  a  far-off  indefinite  future, 
where  they  really  belong ;  but  we  only  waste  time  when 


/  Of   THE  ' 

(    UNIVERS/TY 
THE  UNDEKLYING^^rRIT   -  149 

we  try  to  realize  them  now.  Humanity's  progress  is 
slow  and  painful.  When  it  seems  to  take  a  great  leap 
at  once  it  generally  falls  back  to  its  previous  position, 
and  then  begins  its  slow  progress  as  before.  This 
was  strikingly  exemplified  in  the  French  Revolution. 
France  is  not  one  whit  farther  advanced  than  if  the 
Revolution  had  not  taken  place.  She  grasped  at  too 
much,  and  lost  all.  Every  great  social  change  pre- 
supposes a  great  change  in  the  moral  status  of  the 
individuals  composing  society,  and  such  change  is  nec- 
essarily slow  and  hesitant.  All  change  is,  primarily, 
inner  change.  The  outer  changes  follow  upon  these. 
But  there  lingers  in  many  minds  the  notion  that  by 
some  kind  of  miracle  man  can  suddenly  be  transformed, 
and  fitted  into  a  ready-made  scheme.  Such  schemes 
have  been  propounded  since  the  days  of  Plato;  but 
not  one  has  ever  come  near  realization.  The  forest  is 
continually  asserting  itself  against  the  landscape  gar- 
dener. Mankind  is  too  large  to  be  fitted  into  any 
scheme.  ''^G-esetz  ist  mdchtig^  macJitiger  ist  die  Noth^^"^ 
says  Goethe.  And,  after  all,  Utopian  schemes  are  meant 
to  satisfy  the  needs  of  some  one  man  or  body  of  men. 
Plato  writes  his  "  Republic "  to  show  what  social 
arrangements  would  make  him  happy.  Of  course 
being  a  philosopher,  he  makes  philosophers  the  gov- 
erning class. 

It  takes  a  very  profound  knowledge  of  history  to 
enable  one  to  see  what  is  practical  and  what  is  not, 
and  to  be  patient  with  the  slow  movement  of  mankind. 
When  we  are  young,  we  believe  in  social  and  other 
miracles ;  as  we  grow  older,  we  learn  that  there  are  no 


150         EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

such  things,  and  content  ourselves  with  attempting  the 
possible.     I  believe  Zionism  is  possible  now  ;  universal 
human    regeneration  is  not.      But  Zionism  is  a  step 
toward  that  regeneration. 
Good-bye,  dear  friends. 

I  am  always  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  June  21,  1899. 

My  dear  Friends :  I  have  received  letters  from  many 
of  you  this  week.  You  must  not  be  impatient  if  the 
state  of  my  health  compels  me  to  defer  answering  them 
for  a  few  days.     I  will  answer  them  as  soon  as  I  can. 

I  am  sorry  that  Mr.  F has  resigned  the  presidency 

of  the  club.  I  trust  he  is  still  loyal  to  us  and  our  cause, 
and  I  hope  he  will  soon  be  here.  I  am  comforted  by  the 
knowledge  that  he  has  been  succeeded  by  an  earnest  man. 

It  is  a  great  joy  to  me  to  know  that  the  club  is 
increasing  in  numbers.  I  trust  that  therewith  there 
will  come  no  disharmony,  and  no  attempt  to  draw  the 
club  off  into  side  issues.  It  is  far  more  important  that 
the  club  should  be  harmonious,  and  that  its  members 
should  lead  a  noble  life,  than  that  they  should  profess 
any  creed  capable  of  formulation.  We  should  be  men 
and  women  before  we  are  anything  else.  You  can  do 
far  more  by  presenting  to  the  world  the  example  of 
noble  social  relations  than  by  enumerating  any  set  of 
principles.  Deed,  and  not  creed,  is  the  great  thing. 
Know  all  you  can,  love  all  you  can,  do  all  you  can, 
—  that  .is  the  whole   duty  of  man.     How  large  and 


THE  UNDERLYmG  SPIRIT  151 

beautiful  the  world  becomes,  when  one  earnestly  tries 
to  fulfill  this  duty !  How  all  littleness,  meanness,  and 
unhappiness  disappear ! 

If  you  want  to  be  socialists,  be  such  in  this  way,  — 
hold  whatever  you  own  as  a  trust  for  the  use  of  all. 
State  socialism  is  at  best  a  long  way  off;  but  there 
is  a  socialism  that  you  can  practice  now  without  any 
loss  of  liberty.  Make  yourselves  acquainted  with  each 
other;  learn  each  other's  needs;  be  ready  with  sym- 
pathy, and  when  possible  with  a  helping  hand.  No 
one  is  humiliated  or  degraded  by  the  help,  that  love 
gives.  There  is  much  that  you  can  teach  each  other ; 
there  is  many  a  sorrow  that  you  can  alleviate  for  each 
other.  Be  friends,  in  the  truest  sense,  to  each  other. 
There  is  nothing  in  all  the  world  like  friendship,  when 
it  is  deep  and  real.  And  yet  how  rare  is  friend- 
ship in  our  modern  world !  And  how  barren  is  the 
world  because  of  its  absence !  The  greatest  of  ancient 
thinkers  said,  "Without  friends  no  one  would  choose 
to  live,  though  he  possessed  all  other  blessings."  Is 
it  not  a  wonder  that  so  many  people  choose  to  live? 
Aristotle,  who  uttered  the  above  words,  devotes  two 
books  of  his  "Ethics"  to  friendship.  What  modern 
writer  would  think  that  necessary?  Imagine  a  world 
in  which  every  human  being  were  a  joy  to  every  other ! 
Would  not  that  be  heaven  ?  Is  it  not  worth  while  try- 
ing to  realize  that  heaven  in  your  own  little  circle? 
The  last  evening  I  was  with  you  I  had  a  foretaste  of 
heaven,  just  because  the  sight  of  every  one  of  you  was 
a  joy  to  me.  Why  should  not  our  entire  lives  be  like 
that  evening?     Can't  you  help  to  make  them  so? 


152        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

If  you  examine  the  records  of  the  past,  you  will  find 
that  all  great  movements  have  had  two  characteristics : 
(1)  they  have  begun  with  a  little  knot  of  earnest  peo- 
ple; (2)  they  have  broken  with  the  life  of  the  past. 
There  is  no  method  of  reforming  the  whole  world  at 
once,  or  of  transforming  old  institutions.  We  must 
appropriate  the  whole  experience  of  the  past,  and  begin 
anew.  This  is  the  method  of  philosophy  and  of  life. 
We  shall  preach  reform  in  vain  till  doomsday,  unless 
we  show  reform  in  our  own  lives  and  relations.  A  liv- 
ing example  is  worth  a  thousand  precepts.  The  world 
is  moved  not  by  doctrines,  but  by  lives.  Among  the 
minor  works  of  Goethe  is  a  sort  of  allegory  called  Das 
Mdrchen^  in  which  he  has  symbolized  the  new  move- 
ment in  a  striking  way.  See  if  you  can  interpret  it.  It 
occurs  in  the  Unterhaltungen  deutscher  Ausgewanderten. 

When  I  think  what  life  is  for  most,  and  what  it  might 
be,  I  am  struck  with  horror  and  amazement.  There  is 
no  reason  why  this  world  should  not  be  a  paradise,  and 
life  full  of  joy  and  certain  hope.  And  why  are  things 
so  bad  ?  Simply  because  we  devote  our  attention  to  our 
little  selves,  and  not  to  our  large  selves.  My  little  self 
is  this  creature  bounded  and  burdened  by  a  body ;  my 
large  self  is  the  whole  universe,  or,  for  practical  pur- 
poses, the  whole  of  mankind.  If  every  human  being 
sought  his  good  in  the  good  of  all,  how  blessed  the  world 
would  be  !  Can  you  not  exemplify  this  spirit  in  your 
own  little  circle?  That  would  be  far  better  than 
preaching  universal  leveling. 

Though  I  am  very  much  opposed,  as  you  know,  to 
placards  and  creeds,  yet  every  society  must  have  certain 


THE  UNDERLYmO  SPIRIT  153 

definite  aims,  and  those  aims  involve  certain  principles. 
In  the  past,  the  leading  principles  of  life  have  been  sup- 
posed to  be  miraculously  revealed;  at  present,  they 
must  be  derived  from  science,  or  rather  from  philosophy, 
which  is  the  science  of  sciences.  When  we  have  truth, 
we  need  no  placards.  No  sect  calls  itself  the  Mathe- 
maticians, or  the  Logicians.  Placards  always  imply 
absence  of  science.  If  Christian  truth  were  universally 
accepted,  nobody  would  think  of  calling  himself  a  Chris- 
tian. Humanity  needs  no  placard,  but  only  that  which 
is  less  than  humanity.  If,  then,  you  wish  to  found  a 
permanent  society,  you  must  look  for  its  principles  in 
philosophy,  in  demonstrated  truth,  or,  if  you  prefer,  in 
human  nature  as  understood.  You  must  be  able  to  tell 
whence  you  came,  what  you  are,  whither  you  are  going, 
and  how  you  can  reach  your  goal.  You  must  not  begin 
your  life  programme  with  "I  believe,"  but  with  "I 
know." 

And  now  good-bye.  I  wish  I  could  be  with  you,  or 
you  with  me.  I  am  glad,  for  your  sake,  that  the  weather 
is  cooler.  Take  plenty  of  outdoor  exercise,  to  keep 
your  bodies  and  minds  in  healthy  condition. 

I  am  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  June  28,  1899. 

My  dear  Friends:  I  find  I  am  threatened  with  a 
scolding  if  I  don't  give  you  an  account  of  the  state  of 
my  health,  and  as  I  am  not  fond  of  scoldings,  I  will  tell 
you  a  little  about  it. 


154      educatio:n"  of  the  wage-earners 

1  am  very  far  from  well ;  I  am  suffering  from  a  mal- 
ady which  has  been  growing  on  me  for  nearly  ten  years, 
and  which,  I  fear,  cannot  be  cured  without  an  operation 
of  a  dangerous  sort.  I  am  suffering  a  great  deal  from 
nervous  depression,  and  am  greatly  impeded  from  my 
work,  but  I  keep  up  my  courage  and  hope  for  the  best. 
I  do  what  I  can  do,  and  do  not  worry  about  what  I  can't 
do.  If  the  worst  should  come  to  the  worst,  I  am  not 
afraid.  Death  cannot  interrupt  my  activity,  but  I  should 
be  sorry  to  leave  you  just  when  I  am  learning  to  love 
you  and  to  appreciate  your  goodness  and  your  heroic 
struggles.  I  should  like  to  be  with  you  a  few  years  yet, 
and  I  sincerely  trust  that  I  shall  be.  Don't  worry  about 
me.  Write  to  me,  and  send  me  your  essays,  and  I  will 
do  the  best  I  can  for  you.  I  may  not  reply  or  return 
the  essays  immediately,  but  I  will  do  so  as  rapidly  as 
my  strength  permits.  Your  letters  and  essays  are  among 
my  chief  delights  in  these  invalid  days. 

I  am  asked  about  my  plans  for  next  winter.  It  is 
impossible  for  me  to  say  much  about  these  until  I  know 
what  the  Trustees  of  the  Alliance  are  willing  to  do  for 
me  in  the  way  of  rooms  and  appliances,  and  what  aid  I 
can  get  from  outside.  I  want,  of  course,  to  do  all  I  can, 
and  I  think  I  can  get  the  assistance  of  several  friends. 
I  hope  I  may  be  able  to  give  a  series  of  lectures  on  Sun- 
day afternoons,  and  to  carry  on  my  class  on  Saturday 
evenings.  I  am  thinking  of  taking  up,  as  the  basis  of 
my  work  in  the  latter,  Goethe's  "Faust,"  and  dealing 
with  the  great  problems  involved  in  it.  It  is  the  great 
poem  of  the  modern  world,  and  a  liberal  education  in 
itself.     I  hope  you  will  all  read  the  poem  either  in 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  155 

German  or  in  English  during  the  summer,  so  as  to  be 
ready  for  the  winter's  work.  I  hope  your  new  president 
will  be  able  to  pay  me  a  visit  here,  so  that  we  may 
talk  matters  over  and  make  out  a  programme. 

One  of  you  has  sent  me  an  excellent  epitome  of  Dar- 
win's "Descent  of  Man,"  which  I  hope  will  be  read  to 
the  class. 

I  entirely  approve  of  your  effort  to  organize  your  sum- 
mer work,  and  would  suggest  that  you  make  Martineau's 
"  Types  of  Ethical  Theory  "  the  basis  of  it,  writing  essays 
on  the  different  types  and  presenting  them  on  successive 
evenings.  You  will  find  that  very  instructive  and 
elevating.  Another  suitable  book  is  Freeman's.  "Com- 
parative Politics."  You  will  do  well  to  read  a  poem 
every  meeting.  Among  those  most  suitable  for  your 
purpose  are: 

Lowell,  "The  Present  Crisis";  Tennyson,  "Palace  of  Art," 
"  Lady  Clara  Vere  de  Vere,"  "  Rizpah,"  "  Locksley  Hall," 
and  "  Vastness"  ;  Emerson,  "  Boston  Hymn,"  and  "  Ode  sung 
in  the  Town  Hall,  Concord,  July  4,  1875";  Mrs.  Browning, 
"  Cry  of  the  Children  "  ;  Swinburne,  "  Super  Flumina  Baby- 
lonis " ;  Byron,  "Prisoner  of  Chillon " ;  Burns,  "Man  was 
made  to  mourn." 

You  will  find  many  fine  pieces  in  Palgrave's  "  Golden 
Treasury  "  and  in  Emerson's  "  Parnassus." 

I  should  like  if  one  of  you  would  read  Lewes's  "Life 
of  Goethe,"  and  another  of  you  Diinzer's  (translated),  and 
each  write  an  essay  on  the  poet's  career.  Goethe  was 
the  great  seer  of  the  century,  and  you  ought  to  know 
all  about  him.  Those  who  know  German  should  read 
Wilhelm  Meister  and  Hermann  und  Dorothea,  and  write 


156         EDUCATION  OF   THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

papers  on  them.  It  would  be  well  if  you  would  all 
commit  a  good  many  poems  to  memory  as  treasures  for 
after  life  and  exercises  in  English. 

I  wish  I  knew  your  individual  needs  more  than  I  do, 
so  that  I  might  the  better  serve  you.  I  hope,  too,  that 
you  will  enter  into  each  other's  lives  more  than  is  gen- 
erally done  at  present,  and  be  like  guardian  angels  to 
each  other.  You  never  know  till  you  try  how  much  life 
is  sweetened  by  intimate  friendships. 

Let  me  know  what  you  would  like  me  to  do  next 
winter  and  I  will  try  to  do  it.  I  should  like  to  live  on 
the  East  Side  if  I  could  find  a  quiet  place,  write  my 
books,  and  see  you  often.  We  might,  I  think,  form  a 
little  society  of  which  Isaiah  or  Plato  would  not  be 
ashamed  —  a  society  which  should  be  known  for  its 
high  moral  aspirations  and  its  good  works  —  a  kind  of 
divine  commonwealth  of  which  each  member  should  try 
to  live  a  divine  life.  This,  I  know,  seems  a  high-flown 
idea,  but  it  is  strange  what  ideals  men  can  attain  when 
they  are  really  in  earnest.  Jesus  undertook  to  establish 
a  "kingdom  of  heaven"  upon  earth,  and,  if  there  had 
been  more  like  him,  would,  no  doubt,  have  succeeded, 
but  there  were  not,  and  so  his  efforts  ended  in  a  — 
church.  Cannot  we  renew  that  effort  with  better  suc- 
cess, helping  to  realize  all  that  prophets  and  sages  have 
dreamt  of? 

I  am,  my  dear  friends,  in  life  and  in  death, 

Always  devotedly  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  157 

Hurricane,  July  11,  1899. 

My  dear  Friends :  I  am  most  glad  to  learn  that  Dr. 

E has  been  with  you,  and  that  he  has  expressed 

views  similar  to  mine  in  regard  to  university  education. 
I  am  also  pleased  to  learn  that  you  think  of  taking  the 
work  into  your  own  hands,  and  that  you  are  going  to 
attack  Martineau's  book  on  Ethical  Theory,    You  should 

have  Mr.  F read  to  you  his  epitome  of  Darwin's 

"Descent  of  Man."  It  is  well  worth  hearing  and  dis- 
cussing. I  have  two  other  essays  which  I  hope  to  be 
able  to  return  soon. 

Mr.  C and  Dr.  B are  both  here,  and  we 

are  discussing  plans  for  the  future.  We  are  to  have 
the  Fifth  Street  house  next  winter,  and  a  certain  sura 
of  money  set  aside  for  our  purposes.  What  now 
remains  is  to  arrange  a  plan  of  work,  and  to  find  men 
to  carry  it  out.  Both  these  things  I  shall  try  to  do  in 
the  near  future.  Thus  things  look  promising  for  next 
winter.  I  hope  to  get  a  course  of  lectures  on  Evolu- 
tion, one  on  Universal  History,  one  on  the  System  of 
the  Sciences,  one  on  Economics,  one  on  Art,  one  on 
Comparative  Religion,  and  so  on.  We  must,  of  course, 
begin  small  and  grow  in  a  natural  way.  There  must 
be  no  forcing. 

I  am  beginning  to  hope  that  we  may  have,  besides 
lectures  and  classes,  social  gatherings  for  conversation 
and  mutual  help.  For  want  of  proper  intercourse  we 
remain  strangers  to  each  other,  finding  no  outlet  for  our 
best  feelings,  and  no  joy  in  our  lives.  We  must  try  to 
bring  about  such  intercourse.  We  ought  to  be  a  living 
Providence  to  each  other. 


158         EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

I  am  asked  what  I  mean  by  saying  that  "we  are 
eternal,"  and  that  "  we  are  here  forever/'  I  mean  just 
what  I  say.  I  mean  that  our  career  does  not  end  with 
the  death  of  the  body.  It  is  only  a  false  philosophy 
that  could  ever  make  us  believe  that  it  did.  My  aim 
has  been  to  lead  the  class  up  to  a  true  philosophy,  which 
should  make  it  evident  that  death  is  but  an  incident  in 
an  eternal  career.  Until  we  see  that  clearly,  we  cannot 
invest  life  with  its  true  dignity  or  importance.  What 
is  a  life  of  seventy,  or  even  a  hundred,  years  compared 
with  eternal  life?  What  a  pitiful  life  this  is  for  the 
mass  of  mankind  if  it  all  ends  in  the  grave  !  I  realize 
perfectly  that  it  requires  much  thought  to  convince  us 
that  we  are  eternal.  I  cannot  make  it  evident  to  you 
in  a  few  words ;  but  I  hope,  in  course  of  time,  to  make 
it  as  clear  to  you  as  noonday  that 

Dust  thou  art,  to  dust  returnest, 
Was  not  spoken  of  the  soul. 

Until  we  learn  our  true  nature,  and  live  our  lives  in 
accordance  with  it,  we  need  not  hope  for  any  improve- 
ment of  social  and  economic  conditions.  It  is  because 
we  do  not  know  ourselves  that  we  live  false  and  unsat- 
isfactory lives.  When  we  do  know  ourselves  and  our 
own  possibilities,  we  shall  rise  to  heights  that  we  have 
now  no  notion  of. 

If  I  can  find  the  proper  teachers,  I  shall  try  to  arrange 
classes  to  prepare  for  college ;  but  I  am  not  sure  that  I 
shall  succeed  in  that.  I  must  not  attempt  too  much  at 
once.  I  shall  be  happy  when  members  of  the  class  are 
able  to  give  instruction.     Indeed,  I  think  some  of  them 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  159 

could  do  so  now.      For  example,  if  Mr.  K were 

willing  to  undertake  it,  I  am  sure  he  could  successfully 
carry  on  a  class  in  Latin.  You  know,  I  am  sure,  that 
the  more  you  do  for  yourselves,  the  better  it  will  be.  My 
greatest  satisfaction  it  will  be  when  I  am  no  longer  of 
any  use  to  you. 

One  thing  you  must  all  try  to  do,  and  that  is,  to  get 
complete  command  of  the  English  language.  You  must 
read  a  great  deal ;  you  must  listen  to  good  speakers ;  you 
must  write  essays  and  letters  and  articles;  you  must 
practice  declamation  and  reading  aloud.  Some  of  you 
write  and  pronounce  well ;  but  many  of  you  do  not. 
And  that  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  seeing  that  the  lan- 
guage is  not  native  to  you,  and  that  you  have  not  the 
best  opportunities  of  hearing  it  spoken. 

In  a  letter  received  some  time  ago  I  was  asked  where 
the  knowledge  could  be  obtained  that  would  enable  one 
to  believe  one  thing  or  another.  I  did  not  answer  the 
question  because  it  was  too  momentous.  The  fact  is, 
you  cannot  find  such  knowledge  anywhere.  You  must 
think  it  out  for  yourselves  under  proper  guidance.  You 
must  realize  that  we  are,  at  this  moment,  passing  through 
a  crisis,  when  not  only  the  old  faiths,  but  the  old  philos- 
ophies and  the  old  life-ideals  are  passing  away,  and  giv- 
ing place  to  new.  I  have  been  trying  to  lead  you  up  to 
that  newer  view,  and  shall  try  still  more  earnestly  in  the 
future.  When  you  reach  it,  the  world  will  be  trans- 
formed for  you.  The  meanness  and  littleness  of  the 
present  aspect  of  life  and  of  the  world  will  vanish  from 
you,  and  an  aspect  so  glorious  will  rise  before  you  that 
you  will  almost  shout  for  joy,  as  I  anj  often  inclined  to 


160        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

do.  I  wish  I  could  make  you  feel  that,  with  proper 
earnestness,  you  might  become  the  heralds  and  examples 
of  a  new  civilization,  blessing  all  mankind  to  all  eternity. 

Good-bye.     I  am, 

Most  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  July  18,  1899. 

My  dear  Friends :  To-day  I  have  received  letters  from 
three  members  of  the  class,  and  I  cannot  tell  you  how 
happy  they  have  made  me.  I  have  read  them  one  by 
one  and  slowly  so  as  to  enjoy  them  fully.  To-night  I 
seem  to  be  with  you. 

Dr.  B has  been  here  and  we  have  had  several  good 

talks.  Things  look  promising  for  the  winter,  if  only  my 
health  would  improve,  as  I  trust  it  will.     I  want  to  be 

strong  again  for  your  sake.     Professor  A also  has 

been  here,  and  shown  great  interest  in  our  class.  He  is 
very  anxious  that  we  should  start  a  "Culture  Institute  '* 
on  the  East  Side  on  a  large  scale,  and  thinks  it  could  be 
done.  I  am  in  favor  of  beginning  small  and  growing 
gradually,  and  I  am  quite  sure  we  can  do  that.  Never- 
theless, I  am  busy  working  out  a  scheme  for  a  Culture 
Institute,  and  that  will  be  useful  to  us,  I  hope,  as  an 
ideal,  in  any  case.     I  hope  we  can  get  a  lecture  or  two 

from  Professor  A next  winter,  and  it  is  well  to  have 

his  countenance  and  help. 

Now  that  we  are  virtually  sure  of  the  Fifth  Street 
house,  I  can  begin  to  arrange  for  classes  and  teachers. 
I  sincerely  hope  we  shall  be  able  to  have  a  rounded 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  161 

culture-course,  calculated  to  make  you  all  feel  at  home 
in  the  world. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  know  that  you  are  read- 
ing your  own  essays.  I  returned  two  last  week,  and 
hope  to  be  able  to  return  two  more  this  week.  I  am 
greatly  pleased  with  them  all.  I  have  still  several  let- 
ters to  answer,  and  that  shall  be  done  as  soon  as  I  am 
able  to  do  so.  I  am  longing  to  be  back  with  you,  and 
glad  that  every  day  brings  that  event  nearer. 

I  am  rejoiced  to  see  that  you  remain  earnest,  and 
do  not  turn  to  small  or  frivolous  things.      In  a  letter 

received  a  few  days  ago,  Professor  G says :  "  I  spent 

a  most  charming  evening  with  your  class.  They  are 
indeed  deeply  earnest  young  people,  and  it  is  a  pleasure 
to  work  with  them."  I  am  glad  to  hear  such  things  of 
you,  and  I  trust  that  they  will  always  be  true.  I  hope 
that,  in  course  of  time,  you  will  form  yourselves  into  a 
society,  whose  name  shall  everywhere  mean  all  that  is 
best  and  truest  and  noblest.  I  hope  you  will  be  known 
for  wisdom,  for  kindliness,  and  for  helpfulness.  Many 
of  you,  I  know,  cherish  a  lofty  ideal,  and  I  trust  I  shall 
live  to  see  it  realized.  In  this,  most  blest  of  lands,  we 
have  complete  liberty,  and  there  is  no  high  goal  which 
we  may  not  reach,  if  we  are  determined  to  do  so.  In  my 
opinion,  the  ideal  of  American  democracy  is  the  loftiest 
religion  that  has  ever  appeared  on  this  earth. 

I  wish  I  could  have  given  you  a  more  satisfactory 
answer  than  I  did  last  week  to  the  question  regarding 
human  immortality.  But  it  was  impossible  to  give  an 
adequate  answer  off-hand.  The  clear  insight  into  im- 
mortality rests  upon  a  view  of  existence,  which  is  by  no 


162        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

means  common,  and  which  cannot  be  communicated  in 
a  letter.  Among  the  things  I  hope  to  do  next  winter  is 
to  gather  you  into  a  little  circle  once  or  twice  a  month, 
and,  in  quiet,  friendly  conversation,  to  show  you  the  deep 
things  of  existence  —  among  them  the  fact  that  we  are 
eternal  beings,  with  an  eternal  and  ever-widening  task 
before  us.  If  I  succeed  in  this,  you  will  suddenly  find 
life  become  so  earnest  and  sublime  that  you  will  seem  to 
be  listening  to  the  thunders  of  Sinai  —  only  they  will 
come  from  within  and  not  from  without.  I  believe  it  is 
impossible  to  reach  a  better  social  and  moral  condition, 
until  we  have  rationally  adopted  an  entirely  new  view 
of  life  and  its  meaning  —  a  new  philosoph}?-,  truer  and 
deeper  than  any  that  has  gone  before.  This  philosophy 
will  afford  us  an  outlook  so  inspiring  that  our  little  tem- 
poral difficulties  will  seem  as  nothing  to  us,  and  we  shall 
advance  on  our  eternal  journey  with  a  joy  and  a  cour- 
age of  which  few  people  have  at  present  any  conception. 
And  I  think  you  are  all  ready  for  such  a  philosophy  ;  in 
fact,  I  know  that  some  of  you  are  hungering  and  thirst- 
ing for  it. 

I  was  extremely  glad  to  get  Mr.  M 's  paper  on  the 

"Warfare  of  Science  with  Theology."  I  wish  it  were 
possible  for  the  whole  of  you  to  read  the  book  from 
beginning  to  end.  You  would  find  it  most  instructive 
and  enlightening.    Perhaps  you  will  be  tempted  to  read 

it  after  you  have  heard  Mr.  M 's  paper.    I  think  you 

will  find  Mr.  F 's  paper  on  Darwin's  ''Descent  of 

Man  "  also  very  illuminating. 

I  am  afraid  that  you  will  think  that  the  Bible  of  the 
religion  of  the  future  is  going  to  be  a  pretty  large  book, 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  163 

and  you  are  right.  It  will  include  all  science,  and  all 
art,  of  every  sort.  Its  votaries  will  live  in  an  atmosphere 
of  truth  and  of  universal  interests,  in  which  it  will  be 
impossible  for  them  to  know  weariness  or  satiety.  It 
is,  indeed,  nothing  but  our  own  blindness  and  stupidity 
that  prevents  us  from  making  a  heaven  of  this  world.  If 
we  would  only  discover  the  truth,  and  live  according  to 
it,  we  should  find  ourselves  in  paradise,  here  and  now. 

I  am  very  thankful  to  Mr.  C for  undertaking  the 

presidency  of  the  class,  and  I  am  sure  he  will  do  himself 
credit  in  the  place.  His  clear  utterance  makes  him  espe- 
cially fit  for  it. 

I  am,  always  most  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  July  25,  1899. 

My  dear  Friends :  All  that  I  hear  from  and  about  you 
delights  me,  and  I  have  the  best  hopes  for  the  future. 
I  am  asked  about  the  relation  of  women's  ability  to 
men's.  The  question  is  a  complicated  one,  and  I  am 
not  willing  to  dogmatize  about  it.  That,  on  the  aver- 
age, women  are  physically  smaller  and  weaker  than 
men  is  obvious  enough.  Their  heads  and  their  brains 
are  smaller.  They  are,  and  must  be,  different  in  many 
respects,  for  they  have  different  functions.  But  it  by 
no  means  follows  that  they  are  inferior.  Intelligence 
does  not  depend  upon  size  of  brain.  Byron  had  a  very 
small  brain  and  so  had  many  able  men.  As  in  most 
things,  quality  counts  for  more  than  quantity.  You 
might,  in  this  connection,  read  my  two  articles  in  the 


164        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

Forum,  "The  Ideal  Training  of  the  American  Boy" 
(July,  1894),  and  "  The  Ideal  Training  of  the  American 
Girl "  (June,  1898).  There  is  a  very  noble  passage  on  the 
relations  of  men  and  women  in  Tennyson's  "  Princess  " 
near  the  end.  It  begins  "  Blame  not  thyself  too  much." 
You  might  read  it  in  the  class  next  Saturday.  I  am  sure 
you  will  agree  with  it,  and  learn  it  by  heart.  I  hope  you 
are  all  free  from  the  leveling  mania  which  possesses  so 
many  people,  and  that  you  do  not  wish  to  see  women 
become  like  men.  All  excellence  is  not  one  excellence. 
The  perfect  woman  must  always  be  different  from  the 
perfect  man.  The  chief  delight  of  existence  is  its  va- 
riety.    Uniformity  is  poor,  monotonous,  and  tedious. 

I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  any  more  danger  to 
women  than  to  men  from  "  over-education."  Of  course, 
there  is  considerable  danger  in  both  cases.  Intellectual 
labor  is  an  enormous  drain  upon  the  system  always. 
Persons  of  very  great  intellectual  power  very  often 
have  no  children  at  all,  or  children  of  very  mediocre 
ability,  e.g.,  Plato,  Plotinus,  Locke,  Descartes,  Leibniz, 
Spinoza,  Hobbes,  Bacon,  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Hume, 
Kant,  Humboldt,  Goethe,  Washington,  etc.  It  is  per- 
haps well  that  such  persons  should  not  marry.  I  think 
it  is  probably  true  that  women,  as  well  as  men,  if  greatly 
devoted  to  intellectual  pursuits,  would  not  be  the  best 
of  parents.  But  there  is  the  greatest  difference  between 
sustained  intellectual  labor  and  high  culture.  The 
latter,  I  am  sure,  never  hurt  any  one,  whether  man  or 
woman.  I  know  very  many  women,  graduates  of  col- 
leges, who  are  admirable  wives  and  mothers.  I  am  not 
sure  that  what  I  have  said  will  be  satisfactory  to  you ; 


THE  UNDERLYI^s^G  SPIRIT  165 

but  it  is  the  best  I  can  do.  I  would  add  that  I  don't 
think  marriage  universally  obligatory. 

I  was  very  glad  to  have  Dr.  B here,  and  I  am 

pleased  to  know  that  he  liked  my  place.     I  sincerely 

hope  he  will  come  again,  later  on.     Mr.  C seems 

to  be  very  happy  here.  The  life  in  the  woods  is  new 
to  him,  and  I  think  he  enjoys  it.  He  is  learning  Latin, 
reading  Hume,  felling  trees  and  doing  other  work.  He 
is  looking  strong  and  well.  I  wish  I  were  rich  enough 
to  bring  you  all  up  here ;  it  would  do  you  good. 

I  am  looking  forward  to  next  winter's  work  with 
much  hope.  It  is  such  a  comfort  to  me  to  think  that 
you  have  kept  up  the  class  during  the  summer.  Many 
of  the  essays  and  abstracts  that  have  been  sent  to  me 
are  most  creditable.  I  have  several  now  before  me,  and 
hope  to  return  them  soon.  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  have 
not  a  copy  of  Martineau's  book  here,  but  I  have  received 

Mr.  J 's  essay  on  the  first  chapter.     I  will  try  to 

return  that  this  week,  with  some  remarks,  which  may 
be  useful  to  you. 

You  know  I  have  never  wished  to  dictate  to  you,  or 
to  impose  my  views  upon  you.  I  could  propose  many 
things  for  next  winter  ;  but  I  should  prefer  to  have  you 
make  out  a  plan  for  yourselves,  and  then  I  will  see  how 
far  I  can  help  you  to  carry  it  out.  Cannot  you  discuss 
this  matter,  and  let  me  know  the  result  ? 

You  will  be  glad,  I  think,  to  know  that  I  am  feeling 
better  now  than  I  have  done  for  a  long  time,  and,  though 
I  am  not  able  to  do  much  work,  I  have  good  hopes  of 
improving  as  time  goes  on.  If  the  doctor  and  my 
health  would  allow  me,  I  should  like   to  live  in   the 


166        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

midst  of  you  next  winter.  I  think  I  could  be  useful  to 
you,  and  you  could  be  useful  to  me.  I  am  fain  to 
believe  that  we  might  together  start  a  movement  in 
favor  of  culture,  that  would  have  great  results.  I 
believe  that  the  only  way  to  make  the  future  better  than 
the  past  is  through  education,  and  the  gradual  moraliza- 
tion  of  all  classes,  rich  and  poor.  I  have  no  faith  that, 
as  long  as  men  and  women  remain  as  they  are,  any 
new,  merely  external  arrangement  of  society  can  greatly 
benefit  us.  When  men  and  women  are  better,  then 
society  will  be  better. 

I  do  hope  that  those  of  you  whose  letters  I  have  not 
answered  will  be  patient  with  me.  Do  not  think  that 
my  silence  means  neglect  or  thoughtlessness.  It  merely 
means  want  of  strength. 

Good-bye.     I  am. 

Yours  most  affectionately, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

■  Hurricane,  August  2,  1899. 

My  dear  Friends :  I  am  asked  to  give  my  opinion  on 
the  question,  how  far  a  man  is  influenced  by  environ- 
ment. That  is  a  very  large  question,  and  I  can  give 
only  a  summary  answer.  It  depends  a  good  deal  upon 
the  man.  One  man  is  the  mere  football  of  circumstances, 
another  treats  them  as  so  many  footballs.  Near  the  be- 
ginning of  my  recent  book  on  Rousseau,  I  have  drawn 
a  distinction  between  the  "willers"  who  bully  circum- 
stances, and  the  "  dalliers  "  who  are  bullied  by  them. 
Our  circumstances  constitute  an  environment,  or  world, 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  167 

which  is  the  field  of  our  activity.  But,  as  I  have  often 
tried  to  show  you,  my  world  is  not  one  thing  and  myself 
another.  I  and  my  world  are  one.  What  I  call  my 
environment  is  simply  the  sum  of  my  own  determi- 
nations, and,  therefore,  fundamentally  within  my  own 
power.  The  more  a  man  is  master  of  his  determinations, 
that  is,  the  more  self-determined  he  is,  the  more  of  a 
man  he  is.  The  more  his  determinations  (circumstances) 
are  beyond  his  control,  the  more  of  a  weakling  he  is. 
You  should  read,  in  this  connection,  Enid's  song  in 
Tennyson's  "Idylls  of  the  King."  It  begins,  "Turn, 
Fortune,  turn  thy  wheel,  and  lower  the  proud-'* 

"Should  philosophers  have  any  dealings  with  poli- 
tics? "  All  great  philosophers  have  looked  upon  politics 
as  a  sphere  of  truth,  and,  therefore,  open  to  them.  Many 
great  philosophers  have  taken  an  active  part  in  politics 
with  good  results.  I  should  even  say  that  a  man  who 
stands  aloof  from  politics  cannot  be  a  true  philosopher. 
The  end  of  all  philosophy  is  conduct,  and  the  broadest 
field  of  conduct  is  the  political.  Many  people  have  the 
curious  and  completely  false  notion  that  the  philosopher 
is  an  utterly  unpractical  being,  aimlessly  dreaming  about 
abstractions  having  no  relation  to  the  things  of  earth. 
The  true  philosopher  is  simply  the  man  who  thinks 
profoundly  and  correctly  on  all  subjects. 

You  ask  me  about  the  average  man  and  woman.  I 
am  sorry  to  say  that  I  have  never  met  these  personages, 
and,  therefore,  know  nothing  about  them  or  their  capa- 
bilities. All  my  acquaintances  are  distinct  personali- 
ties, each  different,  and  with  different  capabilities,  from 
all  the  rest.     Each  is  for  me  a  great  world  which  I  am 


168        EDUCATION  OF  THE  AVAGE-EARNERS 

anxious  to  explore,  and  before  which  I  stand  in  rever- 
ence. Is  any  one  oi  you  an  average  man  or  woman? 
If  so,  how  do  you  know?  Does  one  know  all  the  rest 
so  thoroughly  as  to  be  able  to  strike  an  average,  and 
say,  ''  I  correspond  to  that  average "  ?  Just  think 
what  that  would  imply ! 

I  have  not  heard  anything  of  our  brother  F for 

some  time  ;  but  I  left  word  with  the  doctor  to  send 
him  up  to  me  as  soon  as  he  was  fit  to  be  removed  from 
the  hospital.     I  must  again  inquire  about  him. 

Miss  R is  here  and  seems  very  happy,  and  I  may 

say  the  same  of  Mr.  C .  They  are  both  great  favor- 
ites and  I  am  delighted  to  have  them.  I  am  only  sorry 
that  my  health  does  not  permit  me  to  do  as  much  for 
them  as  I  should  wish. 

What  you  tell  me  about  Mr.  K 's  talk  and  Mr. 

M 's  essay  is  most  encouraging.     My  heart  warms 

to  you  when  I  think  that  you  are  occupying  yourselves 
with  such  earnest  things,  and  I  long  to  be  with  you. 
I  am  trying  to  make  plans  for  next  winter,  and  shall 
be  most  glad  to  hear  what  you  would  like  to  have  done, 
and,  moreover,  what  you  would  like  to  do.  For,  after 
all,  our  work  must  result  in  our  doing.  We  must  not 
only  know  the  truth:  we  must  also  live  it.  And  we 
can  live  it  only  by  establishing  noble  and  wise  social 
relations.  We  must  be  individually  great  and  good. 
Only  thus  can  we  be  blessings  to  all  around  us,  as  we 
ought  to  be.  Let  us  devote  ourselves,  body  and  soul, 
to  welldoing ;  and,  though  we  may  not  immediately  see 
the  fruit  of  our  labors,  the  fruit  is  sure  to  ripen  in  the 
days  to  come. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  169 

I  suppose  I  shall  return  to  N,ew  York,  for  medical 
treatment,  in  the  early  part  of  September.  If  the  treat- 
ment is  successful,  I  hope  to  be  again  a  strong  man,  and 
to  do  much  work.  I  shall,  I  hope,  return  here  for  a 
short  time,  to  pack  my  books  before  coming  down  for 
the  winter. 

We  are  having  beautiful  days  and  nights  now.  Our 
walks  in  the  woods  and  our  quiet  conversations  in  lovely 
spots,  affording  views  of  the  mountains  and  valleys, 
are  most  inspiring.     I  hope  to  see  you  all  here  some 

day.     I  expect  Mr.  F and  Mr.  C in  the  next 

few  days. 

And  now,  my  dear  friends,  good  night !  It  is  nearly 
midnight  and  I  must   go  to    rest.     The   light  in  Mr. 

C 's  tent  is  out,  and  he  is  probably  asleep.    You  see 

he  is  celebrating  the  "  feast  of  tabernacles  "  aU  the  time. 
He  is  in  the  "wilderness,"  but  I  think  the  "promised 
land  "  is  before  him.  He  has  done  a  great  deal  of  solid 
work  here,  and  Miss  R is  following  his  example. 

I  am,  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  August  16,  1899. 
My  dear  Friends :  I  am  greatly  pleased  to  know 
that  you  are  discussing  Martineau's  "Types  of  Ethical 
Theory,"  and  not  altogether  disappointed  that  you  are 
drawn  thereby  into  purely  philosophical  or  "  metaphys- 
ical" questions.  Indeed,  we  cannot  discuss  ethics  to 
any  good  purpose  without  so  doing.  We  must  clearly 
understand  what  a  being  is,  before  we  can  say  what  the 


170        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

rules  for  his  conduct  shall  be.  Moreover,  you  cannot 
direct  a  man  who  does  not  know  where  he  is  going,  or 
who  does  not  want  to  go  anywhere.  If  we  are  mere 
animals,  with  only  animal  wants  and  aspirations,  we 
shall  have  one  rule  of  conduct;  if  we  are  beings  with 
ideal  ends  and  eternal  purposes,  we  shall  have  quite 
another.  Moreover,  inasmuch  as  all  ethical  conduct 
aims  at  good  and  a  good  life,  we  must  clearly  under- 
stand what  good  means.  Is  there  any  good  for  a  stone 
or  a  shadow?  If  not,  why  not?  Is  there  any  good 
for  a  nation  other  than  the  good  of  the  individuals 
composing  it? 

I  should  strongly  advise  you  to  discuss  these  things 
carefully,  especially  the  meaning  and  the  conditions  of 
the  good.  Then  ask  yourselves  :  Who  is  the  good 
man?  Who  is  the  good  citizen?  and  you  will,  I  am 
sure,  find  the  answers  interesting.  You  should  then 
discuss  the  meaning  of  "  ought,"  and  why  we  feel  it  to 
be  authoritative.  Of  course,  there  can  be  no  ethics 
except  for  a  being  that  has  freedom  of  choice  :  there  is 
no  ethical  possibility  for  a  thunderbolt  or  an  earthquake. 
It  will  be  well  for  you  to  consider  the  nature  of  freedom. 

If,  in  discussing  the  ethical  theories  of  different  phi- 
losophers, you  become  acquainted  with  their  systems  as 
wholes,  that  will  be  a  great  gain.  You  cannot  have  too 
many  ways  of  looking  at  the  world.  Indeed,  culture 
consists  largely  in  being  able  to  see  it  from  many  points 
of  view.     And  each  philosophy  is  a  point  of  view. 

I  am  much  pleased  to  find  that  the  class  is  increasing 
in  numbers,  and  I  sincerely  trust  that  the  new  members 
will  be  as  good  as  the  old,  and  will  be  pervaded  by  the 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  171 

same  seriousness.  I  hope,  also,  that  you  will  form  a 
society  bound  together  by  love  and  respect.  I  hear 
good  accounts  of  you  from  all  sides,  and  I  hope  I  shall 
always  do  so. 

I  recognize  that  my  last  letter  gave  but  sketchy 
answers  to  the  questions  taken  up  in  it ;  but  space  did 
not  permit  me  to  do  better.  Besides,  I  am  not,  in  the 
least,  anxious  to  impose  my  opinions  upon  you.  I  wish 
to  give,  here  and  there,  a  hint,  and  allow  you  to  follow 
it  up  yourselves.  If  you  come  to  my  conclusions  I  shall 
be  pleased;  if  you  don't,  I  shall  be  pleased  also. 

I  should  be  very  sorry  to  have  you  accept  the  doctrine 
of  immortality  as  a  dogma;  and  yet  I  should  be  very 
glad  if  you  could  see  that  it  is,  and  must  be,  true  — 
that  only  an  eternal  being  can  think  and  will.  In  any 
case,  it  can  do  you  nothing  but  good  to  exercise  your 
intelligence  in  dealing  with  the  question,  which  is  a 
very  important  one,  both  theoretically  and  morally. 
Some  persons,  who  have  not  done  much  accurate  think- 
ing, tell  us  that  it  is  selfish  to  desire  personal  immor- 
tality, that  we  should  be  content  with  the  immortality 
of  humanity ;  and  sacrifice  our  personal  longings  and 
aspirations  to  it.  But  surely,  it  cannot  be  selfish  to 
desire  to  be,  for  ever  and  ever,  a  beneficent  being,  to 
be  for  one's  fellows  all  that  it  is  possible  to  be.  If  it  is 
noble  to  wish  to  serve  our  kind  for  fifty  years,  it  surely 
cannot  be  ignoble  to  desire  to  serve  it  for  five  hundred, 
or  five  thousand,  years.  And  if  we  do  not  live  to  serve 
our  kind,  is  it  not  ignoble  to  live  for  one  hour?  Again, 
"humanity"  is  a  mere  abstraction,  for  which  no  one 
can  live  or  die.     For  it  is  merely  a  short  term  for  all 


172        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

men  and  women,  past,  present,  and  future.  But  it  is 
obvious  that  we  cannot  live  for  past  men  and  women. 
"  To  live  for  humanity  "  must,  therefore,  mean  to  live 
so  that  the  men  and  women  of  the  present  and  future 
shall  be  better  for  our  living.  And,  if  these  men  and 
women  are  all  ephemeral  beings,  it  must  mean  that  each 
brief  life  is  to  be  a  sacrifice  for  other  brief  lives  like 
itself,  and  that  no  one  ever  gathers  the  fruit  of  all  this 
sacrifice.  I  cannot  imagine  anything  more  foolish  and 
disheartening,  unless  it  be  the  notion  that,  after  a  man 
has  toiled  to  build  up  a  character  rich  in  knowledge, 
love,  and  beneficent  action,  he  is  suddenly  blown  out, 
like  a  candle,  and  his  power  to  bless  brought  to  naught. 
If  this  be  true,  then  life  is  a  brutal  mockery,  which  it 
would  be  well  to  end  at  once. 

But  I  see  clearly  that  it  is  not  true,  and  I  should  be 
glad,  for  your  sake,  if  you  could  see  it  too.  I  am  well 
aware  that  the  belief  in  immortality,  in  the  past,  has 
been  so  closely  connected  with  supernaturalism  that  one 
is  almost  ashamed  to  hold  a  doctrine  which  has  kept  such 
bad  company.  But  we  ought  to  get  over  this,  and  treat 
the  doctrine  on  its  own  merits.     Will  you  do  this? 

There  are  four  members  of  the  class  here  now,  and, 
as  far  as  I  can  see,  they  are  all  well  and  happy.     Mr. 

C lectured  here  to-day  in  a  manner  that  made  me 

very  glad.  I  must  not  say  more,  though  there  is  more 
to  say,  about  this.    It  would  be  an  insult  to  praise  him. 

Good  night,  dear  friends. 

I  am,  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  173 

Hurricane,  May  17,  1900. 

My  dear  Friends:  I  am  not  going  to  tell  you  how 
hard  it  was  to  leave  you.  You  know  how  glad  I  am  to 
be  with  you,  and  that  must  be  the  measure  of  sorrow  at 
parting.  You  know,  too,  that  our  parting  is  a  mere 
bodily  affair.  We  are  not  parted  in  spirit.  And  in 
this  instance  bodily  parting  is  good.  For  the  next  few 
months  you  will  manage  your  own  affairs  and  conduct 
your  own  discussions  and  practical  work.  Nothing 
could  be  better  for  you;  and  nothing  could  give  me 
more  pleasure  than  to  see  you  succeed.  I  am  sure  that 
whenever  you  come  together  there  will  be  order,  dignity, 
and  earnestness.  The  poodle  and  the  monkey  will  not 
be  found  among  you.  Your  sole  aims  will  be  truth 
and  righteousness. 

Of  my  journey  as  far  as  Westport  I  know  very  little. 
After  that  it  was  delightful.  We  started  in  an  open 
conveyance  at  four  o'clock,  in  the  pale  dawn,  and  drove 
by  clear  brooks,  tenderly  leafing  trees,  green  meadows, 
and  solemn  mountains  for  just  four  hours.  The  air 
was  balmy  but  bracing,  and,  as  we  kept  ascending,  there 
gradually  grew  upon  us  a  sense  of  freshness  and  health 
and  expansion  that  belongs  only  to  the  mountains. 
The  sun  came  out  in  due  time,  and  ere  we  reached 
home  we  were  in  paradise.  The  far,  snow-capped  moun- 
tains stood  out  blue  against  the  horizon,  while  the  near 
slopes  were  green  and  brown  of  every  shade.  Over  all 
swept  the  cloud  shadows  in  joy.  Since  we  arrived  it 
has  been  every  kind  of  weather.  It  has  thundered  and 
lightened,  and  poured  in  torrents.  Fog  and  sunshine 
have  been  playing  at  hide  and  seek  all  day.    And  now,  at 


174        EDUCATION  OF   THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

eight  in  the  evening,  the  heavy  mists  lie  over  the  moun- 
tains, the  woods  are  dripping,  and  the  streams  roaring. 
In  spite  of  all  this  panorama,  I  have  arranged  my  library 
and  unpacked  my  traveling  books,  and  now  I  am  sitting 
at  my  desk  in  the  wilderness  writing  to  my  blessed  boys 
and  girls.     I  hope  this  may  reach  you  on  Saturday. 

You  are  doubtless  aware  that,  in  taking  possession  of 
our  new  quarters,  a  new  phase  in  our  existence  has 
begun.  Thus  far  we  have  mainly  sought  self-culture ; 
in  the  future  we  must  go  out  and  impart  the  bless- 
ings of  culture  to  others.  We  have  been  preparing  an 
instrument,  now  we  must  use  that  instrument.  Nor 
must  we  forget  that  it  is  in  imparting  culture  to  others 
that  the  highest  culture  comes  to  ourselves.  We  never 
really  live  our  own  lives  till  we  live  with  the  lives  of 
others.  You  must  now  daily  ask  yourselves  of  what 
use  you  can  be  to  those  about  you  in  the  way  of  instruc- 
tion, sympathy,  example,  encouragement.  If  you  reflect 
you  will  find  that  there  are  a  thousand  ways  in  which 
you  can  be  of  service  to  old  and  young,  not  only  in 
your  individual  capacity,  but,  also,  as  a  class,  and  as 
forming  clubs  within  the  class.  I  cherish  the  greatest 
hopes  that  from  our  new  home  will  radiate  such  benefi- 
cent influences  that  its  name  shall  be  a  synonym  for 
all  good  works,  and  that  to  belong  to  it  shall  be  consid- 
ered the  greatest  of  honors. 

There  is  another  point  in  connection  with  our  new 
departure  that  requires  some  consideration.  Thus  far 
the  class  has  drawn  its  members  from  those  desiring 
instruction.  It  has  held  out  no  other  inducement. 
Now  it  has  other  things  to  offer,  and  so  you  may  expect 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT    '  175 

to  find  persons  of  a  different  sort  from  yourselves  suing 
for  admission,  —  persons -seeking  a  place  to  lounge  or 
to  engage  in  idle  conversation.  It  will  be  well  to  pro- 
vide against  the  admission  of  such.  It  would  perhaps 
be  advisable,  after  a  complete  list  of  the  present  mem- 
bers has  been  made  out,  to  admit  no  new  members, 
except  on  the  recommendation  of  three  actual  members, 
and  after  the  approval  of  the  house  committee,  or  of  a 
special  committee  on  membership.  This,  of  course,  does 
not  mean  that  anybody  should  be  excluded  from  the 
classes  and  meetings,  —  far  from  it,  —  but  merely  that 
unknown  persons  should  have  no  voice  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  club,  and  no  right  to  use  the  club  rooms  for 
lounging  or  talking  frivolity. 

I  am  well  aware  that  among  the  members  of  the  club 
there  are  not  a  few  who  cherish  very  radical  ideas  on 
social  and  moral  reform.  This  is  certainly  as  it  should 
be,  provided  due  care  is  taken  that  the  ideas  are  at  once 
practicable  and  just.  You  know  that  I  am  neither  an 
anarchist  nor  a  socialist ;  but  you  perhaps  do  not  know 
that  I  think  there  are  both  a  spirit  and  a  power  in  our 
class  that  give  promise  of  accomplishing  what  socialism 
and  anarchism  have  attempted  in  vain, — the  spirit  that 
recognizes  humanity  as  the  true  self  of  each  individual, 
and  the  power  to  give  effect  to  that  recognition.  If 
society  is  reformable,  why  should  not  the  saving  impulse 
proceed  from  our  little  band  as  readily  as  from  elsewhere? 
Why  should  we  enroll  ourselves  under  the  banners  of 
aliens  and  call  ourselves  by  their  names,  thus  sacrificing 
our  own  freedom  of  thought?  Let  us  stand  for  our- 
selves, and  for  the  most  generous  principles  we  can  attain. 


176         EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

Let  us  inscribe  "  Social  Truth  and  Righteousness  "  on 
our  banners,  and  then  follow  them  wherever  they  may- 
lead.  And  they  certainly  will  not  lead  to  class  hatred, 
to  envy  of  the  rich,  or  to  contempt  for  the  poor.  Nor 
will  they  lead  to  loud-mouthed  declamation  about  "nat- 
.ural  rights,"  or  to  schemes  for  the  use  of  dynamite. 
The  bearers  of  them  will  find  their  programme  in  the 
opening  verses  of  the  forty-second  chapter  of  Isaiah: 

Behold  my  servant  whom  I  uphold, 
My  chosen  in  whom  my  soul  delights ; 
I  have  put  my  spirit  upon  him, 
He  will  set  forth  the  law  to  the  nations. 

He  will  not  cry  aloud,  nor  roar  as  a  lion, 
Nor  cause  his  voice  to  be  heard  in  the  street. 
A  cracked  reed  he  will  not  break, 
And  a  dimly  burning  wick  he  will  not  quench. 

Faithfully  will  he  set  forth  the  law ; 

He  will  not  burn  dimly,  nor  be  crushed  in  spirit, 

Till  he  have  set  the  law  in  the  earth. 

And  for  his  instruction  the  far  countries  wait. 

I  sometimes  think  that  this  ideal  of  the  grand  old 
prophet  will  be  realized  through  you,  that  in  you  will 
find  expression  the  divine  spirit,  enabling  you  to  set 
forth  the  law  of  righteousness  to  the  nations.  Keep 
these  words  continually  before  you,  and  do  your  best 
to  make  them  true.  Even  those  of  you  who  have  cast 
away  the  coarse  outer  husks,  that  so  long  have  hidden 
the  kernel  of  the  prophet's  message,  can  certainly  find 
it  easy  to  accept  this  teaching.  And  this  is  all  that 
prophecy  means ;  the  rest  is  mere  clothes,  which  must 
be  changed  to  suit  times  and  seasons. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  177 

And  now,  my  dear  friends,  good  night.  May  you  grow 
daily  in  knowledge,  in  sympathy,  and  in  helpfulness. 

Yours  with  a  love  that  will  not  tire, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  May  23,  1900. 

My  dear  Friends:  It  is  just  a  week  since  I  parted 
with  some  of  you  at  the  station,  and  it  seems  a  year. 
How  many  years  will  it  be  before  I  see  you  again,  at 
this  rate  ? 

Your  secretary's  good  letter  came  on  Monday,  and 
brought  me  good  news  of  you.  Your  discussion  of 
"  Eating,  Drinking,  and  Sleeping  "  seems  to  have  been 
profitable.  At  any  rate  it  must  have  drawn  your  atten- 
tion to  a  very  important  matter.  I  trust  that  you  will 
all  put  the  truth  you  learned  into  practice.  "  Simplic- 
ity and  regularity  "  should  be  your  motto  in  the  matter 
of  eating.  Each  of  you  should  have,  at  least,  eight 
hours'  unbroken  sleep  every  night.  I  fear  some  of  you 
are  in  the  habit  of  sitting  up  too  late.  You  seem  to 
have  said  nothing  about  drinking,  —  a  fact  which  is 
both  characteristic  and  encouraging.  I  hope  at  some 
future  time  to  arrange  a  series  of  lectures  on  hygiene 
for  you. 

Your  discussion  with  regard  to  a  name  for  our  class 
interests  me  greatly.  That  we  must  now  have  a  name 
seems  clear,  and  the  question  what  it  shall  be  has  exer- 
cised me  a  good  deal.  We  must,  of  course,  avoid  all 
pedantic  names,  and  names  that  would  commit  us  to 
anything  but  truth  and  righteousness.     You  know  that 


178        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

my  ambition  has  been,  and  is,  to  see  our  little  enterprise 
develop  into  a  Breadwinners'  College.  I  think  I  said 
so  in  my  report  to  the  Educational  Alliance  last  winter. 
The  chairman  of  the  house  committee,  and,  indeed,  the 
committee  generally,  have  suggested  that  we  adopt  that 
name  at  once,  and  I  am  not  sure  but  that  is  the  best 
we  can  do.  Before  doing  so,  however,  you  must  see 
that  there  be  no  objection  on  the  part  of  the  trustees 
of  the  Alliance.  I  understand  that  steps  have  been 
taken  to  insure  their  concurrence.  The  name,  at  our 
present  stage,  may  seem  a  little  arrogant,  but  whether 
or  not  it  shall  really  be  so  depends  upon  you.  If  you 
adopt  it  you  must  realize  that  you  take  a  solemn  pledge 
to  make  it  mean  what  it  says.  If  you  are  reluctant  to 
do  that,  then  choose  another  name.  Furthermore,  if 
you  resolve  to  be  a  college  in  all  seriousness,  then  we 
must  try  to  conduct  the  whole  of  the  higher  education 
undertaken  by  the  Alliance.  I  think  the  trustees  would 
allow  us  to  do  this,  if  not  immediately,  in  course  of 
time.  I  am  chairman  of  the  committee  on  literature  and 
science,  and  I  should  be  glad  to  work  in  that  direction, 
if  you  feel  equal  to  the  task.  That  there  is  sufficient 
ability  among  you  to  carry  it  on  successfully  is  very 
certain.  Everything  depends  on  your  will  and  enthu- 
siasm. Now,  consider  all  this  carefully,  and  then  make 
up  your  minds.     Here  is  a  glorious  field  for  you ! 

I  am  glad  you  are  to  have  a  lecture  from  Dr.  H . 

Give  him  my  kindest  regards  when  he  comes.  Make 
him  tell  you  a  great  deal  about  the  character  of  the 
Boers,  and  about  the  manner  in  which  they  treat  people 
of  a  faith  different  from  their  own. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  179 

You  cannot  be  too  grateful  to  Mr.  F for  being  will- 
ing to  give  up  a  tliird  evening  every  week  to  the  interests 
of  the  class.  If  you  become  a  college  he  will  make  an 
excellent  head  of  the  aesthetic  department.  I  could  name 
several  other  heads  of  departments,  and  so  can  you. 

While  waiting  for  your  list  of  books  (to  be  bought), 
let  me  suggest  two:  (1)  "Open  Sesame"  (Ginn  &  Com- 
pany), for  those  who  are  going  to  undertake  to  teach 
classes  of  young  boys  and  girls ;  (2)  Rossetti's  "  Dante 
and  his  Circle."  This  contains  an  almost  faultless  trans- 
lation of  Dante's  "Vita  Nuova,"  a  book  which  every 
one  of  you  ought  to  read.  It  is  the  purest  love  story 
that  ever  was  written. 

Let  us  be  in  no  hurry  to  use  up  all  our  book  fund. 
Let  us  leave  something  to  get  the  books  we  may  need 
for  actual  use  from  time  to  time.  For  the  present  let 
us  buy  standard  books.  Of  the  books  of  the  day  we 
shall  get  many  presents,  I  am  sure. 

Our  map  of  the  ancient  world  can  now  be  hung  up 

on  the  wall  of  the  room  where  Mr.  C 's  history  class 

is  held.  There  is  an  historical  atlas  by  Freeman  which 
you  ought  to  possess.  You  might  also  get  Kurtz's 
"  Geschichtstabellen." 

As  many  of  you  as  can  conveniently  join  the  Sunday 
morning  philosophical  class  should  do  so.  Its  work  for 
the  summer  is  Plato,  and  every  one  of  you  ought  to  know 
about  him.  He  is  one  of  the  masters  of  the  world's 
thought,  and  though  he  was  vastly  mistaken  in  many 
important  things  he  cannot  be  neglected. 

To  my  great  sorrow,  I  find  I  have  lost,  or  mislaid,  the 
list  of  the  names  and  addresses  of  the  class.     Another 


180         EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

should  be  made  out  as  soon  as  possible.  I  suppose  the 
treasurer  is  attending  to  that  for  his  own  sake.  I  shall 
be  glad  to  have  a  copy  of  the  new  list. 

I  need  not  tell  you  how  glad  I  am  that  you  are  pro- 
gressing so  rapidly,  and  that  you  are  managing  your 
own  affairs  so  successfully.  Now  is  the  time  for  you 
to  form  yourselves  into  little  knots  for  the  pursuit  of 
different  kinds  of  good  work.  You  would  do  well  to 
form  relations  with  other  clubs  that  are  doing  good 
work,  such  as  the  Hebrew  Benevolent  Association,  which 
I  hear  highly  spoken  of.  Indeed,  the  more  relations  you 
can  enter  into,  the  more  useful  you  will  be. 

But,  with  all  your  doing,  do  your  best  to  avoid  over- 
work and  overstrain.  Live  rational  lives,  as  far  as  it 
is  possible  for  you  to  do  so.  Avoid  late  hours  and  all 
sorts  of  excitement.  Few  of  you,  I  am  sure,  care  any- 
thing about  frivolous  amusements,  and  in  that  you  have 
a  great  advantage  over  many  people  who  are  better 
situated  than  you  are. 

And  now,  dear  friends,  good  night. 

I  am  always  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 


Hurricane,  May  30,  1900. 
My  dear  Friends:  I  am  much  interested  to  hear 
of  your  discussion  in  regard  to  the  name  of  our  new 
enterprise,  for  new  it  is.  We  cannot  any  longer  call 
ourselves  a  Class  in  History  and  Sociology.  We  have 
outgrown  that  name,  and  must  have  a  new  one.  The 
question  is.  What  shall  it  be? 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  181 

Some  time  ago  I  expressed  the  hope  that  we  might 
develop  into  a  Breadwinners'  College.  Nevertheless, 
I  was  somewhat  surprised  when  the  house  committee 
wrote  to  me  saying  that  they  thought  we  ought  to 
assume  that  name  at  once ;  and  I  advised  caution  and 
reflection.  I  said  that,  unless  the  class  felt  that  they 
could  in  a  short  time  make  the  name  a  reality,  they 
had  better  not  assume  it.  Since  then,  I  have  thought 
a  good  deal  about  the  matter,  and  have  received  an 
account  of  your  discussion  from  several  of  you.  The 
more  I  think  of  it  the  more  it  seems  advisable  to  adopt 
the  name,  and  the  less  weighty  appear  the  objections 
urged  against  it.  There  seems  to  be  no  objection  to  it 
on  the  part  of  the  Alliance. 

That  a  Breadwinners'  College  is  greatly  needed  on 
the  East  Side  no  one,  I  suppose,  doubts.  The  question 
is.  Is  there  ability  and  enthusiasm  enough  among  you 
to  carry  one  on  ?  My  own  belief  is  that  there  is ;  but 
you  know  best.  There  is  certainly  a  glorious  oppor- 
tunity offered  you  to  do  the  most  beneficent  work  for 
your  fellow-men,  —  work  whose  influence  would  be  far- 
reaching  and  eternal.  Many  of  you,  I  know,  are  eager 
for  such  work  and  are  asking  where  it  can  be  found. 
Here  it  is,  almost  thrust  in  your  faces.  Of  all  philan- 
thropic work,  education  is  the  noblest  and  most  effective. 
It  is  that  which  best  diffuses  truth  and  righteousness, 
the  lack  of  which  is  the  cause  of  nearly  all  human  ills. 
But  it  is  no  light  work,  and  I  can  well  understand  your 
desiring  to  think  twice  before  undertaking  it.  The 
word  "college"  seems  to  frighten  some  of  you,  and 
make  you  begin  to  think  of  examinations  and  degrees, 


182        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

and  all  the  other  formalities  of  our  present  institutions. 
There  is  no  reason  for  such  dread.  You  will  never 
be  expected  to  enter  the  lists  against  colleges  which 
do  this.  It  is  just  because  our  present  colleges  are 
so  unsatisfactory,  so  unsuited  to  the  great  body  of 
American  people,  that  colleges  of  a  new  sort,  Bread- 
winners' Colleges,  are  necessary.  We  want  to  educate 
the  breadwinners  better  than  our  present  college  men 
are  educated.  We  want  to  make  them  better  men  and 
women  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  —  pure,  high-minded, 
public-spirited,  generous,  cultured.  The  day  has  come 
when  the  toiling  millions  who  have  so  long  been  denied 
their  share  in  the  treasures  of  art,  science,  culture,  and 
freedom,  won  by  the  men  and  women  of  past  ages, 
must  come  to  their  inheritance  ;  and  they  can  do  so  only 
through  education.  We  are  engaged  in  a  new  move- 
ment, one  of  the  most  momentous  that  the  world  has  ever 
known,  —  the  spiritual  elevation  of  the  vast  majority 
of  mankind.  A  century  ago,  it  was  the  bourgeois  class 
that  fought  for,  and  won,  its  freedom.  To-day,  it  is  the 
working  class  that  is  fighting  for  the  same  thing,  —  the 
breadwinners.  It  is  they  who  are  demanding  culture 
and  freedom,  and  colleges  where  these  may  be  learned. 
Are  you  going  to  take  a  leading  part  in  this  glorious 
movement,  or  are  you  not  ?  That  is  the  question.  Are 
you  going  to  be  heroes  and  heroines  in  the  cause  of  the 
last  great  emancipation,  or  are  you  going  to  fold  your 
hands  and  leave  yourselves  and  your  fellows  in  bondage  ? 
If  you  feel  brave  enough  to  embrace  the  former  alter^ 
native,  then  form  yourselves  into  a  Breadwinners'  Col- 
lege, and  vow  to  yourselves,  in  the  silence  of  your  own 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  183 

breasts,  that  you  will  do  your  share  in  banishing  igno- 
rance, sin,  poverty,  and  misery  from  the  face  of  the 
earth.  The  freeing  movement  must  begin  somewhere. 
Why  not  with  you?  If  you  found  a  Breadwinners' 
College  now,  and  make  it  a  success,  you  may  live  to  see 
a  copy  of  it  in  every  city  ward  and  in  every  coimtry 
village.  Think  of  it !  Think  how  full  of  interest  and 
joy  your  lives  would  be  if  you  felt  that  you  had  taken 
the  first  great  step  in  the  emancipation  of  the  millions 
of  toilers  that  now  groan  in  ignorance !  A  little  knot 
of  earnest  Jews  has  turned  the  world  upside  down  before 
now.  Why  may  not  the  same  thing  —  nay,  a  far  better 
thing  —  happen  in  your  day,  and  among  you  ?  Have 
you  forgotten  the  old  promise  made  to  Abraham,  — 
"In  thee  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  families  of  the 
earth  be  blessed  "  ?  You  can  bring  the  promise  to  fulfill- 
ment if  you  will.  A  little  heroism,  a  little  self-sacrifice, 
and  the  thing  is  done. 

The  working  classes  of  France  are  to-day  founding 
"  Popular  Universities "  by  the  hundred.  Are  you 
afraid  to  found  one  Breadwinners'  College?  Take  this 
into  consideration. 

If  you  decide  to  adopt  the  name,  we  must,  of  course, 
begin  on  a  small  scale ;  but  if  our  institution  meets  a 
popular  need,  it  will  grow  with  incredible  rapidity. 
Think  well  on  this. 

I  am  pleased  to  know  that  the  discussion  on  »  Cleanli- 
ness and  Exercise  "  was  conducted  with  vigor.  Why 
did  Mr. fail  to  perform  what  he  voluntarily  under- 
took? Is  he  unwell?  I  am  sure  these  discussions, 
by  calling  attention  to  many  important  questions  in 


184        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

practical  ethics,  will  do  great  good.  Your  conclusion 
in  the  present  instance  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.  I 
hope  every  one  of  you  will  live  up  to  it. 

I  wish  you  were  all  here  in  this  glorious  world. 
Never  were  the  mountains  more  beautiful.  I  shall  be 
glad  to  entertain  any  of  you  for  a  week,  if  you  can  find 
your  way  up  here.  I  feel  almost  ashamed  to  be  luxu- 
riating in  this  paradise,  but  I  am  laying  up  strength  for 
work  with  you  next  winter.  I  hope  to  return  to  you 
in  health  and  vigor. 

I  am  writing  a  history  of  the  class  and  its  ideals. 
I  hope  you  will  all  live  up  to  these  ideals. 

I  am  always  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidsok. 

Hurricane,  June  5,  1900. 

My  dear  Friends:  I  am  glad  to  know  that  you  are 
having  serious  discussions,  and  trust  that  they  are  car- 
ried on  for  the  sake  of  truth,  and  not  in  a  contentious 
way,  for  the  sake  of  victory. 

The  suggestion  that  we  should  call  ourselves  The 
Breadwinners'  College  came,  as  you  know,  immedi- 
ately from  the  house  committee.  It  took  me  by  sur- 
prise at  first,  but  the  more  I  thought  of  it,  the  more  it 
seemed  to  me  to  present  an  ideal  which  you  could  be 
glad  to  realize,  to  offer  an  opportunity  for  the  very 
noblest  kind  of  work.  But  I  had  no  thought  of  imposing 
it  on  you,  or  of  committing  you  to  anything  that  you 
did  not  feel  equal  to.  It  may  be  that  my  confidence  in 
your  earnestness  led  me  astray.     I  do  not  know  any 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  185 

legal  objection  to  our  calling  ourselves  a  college.  My 
reason  for  preferring  "  college  "  to  "  institute  "  was  that 
the  latter  is  too  vague  and  might  mean  a  polytechnic 
school,  as  the  Stevens  Institute  is.  I  had  hoped  to  add 
to  our  college,  some  day,  such  a  school.  Use  your  own 
best  judgment,  and  come  to  your  own  decision.  It  is 
your  affair. 

I  am  sorry  to  learn  that  a  disputatious  spirit,  a  tend- 
ency to  wrangle  over  little  parliamentary  points,  has 
begun  to  show  itself  among  you.  It  would  be  truly 
sad  if  this  were  to  continue,  and  I  am  fain  to  hope  that 
such  childish  frivolity  came  from  some  outsiders  who  had 
been  unwarily  admitted  and  who  had  not  acquired  your 
earnest  spirit.  I  pointed  out  to  you,  in  a  previous  letter, 
the  need  of  care  in  the  matter  of  fresh  admissions.  You 
will  now  understand  why  I  did  so.  I  think  it  would  be 
wise  to  allow  none  but  members  to  take  part  in  the  dis- 
cussions. Otherwise  you  will  be  in  danger  of  continual 
disturbance  from  people  who  have  not  reached  your 
standpoint.  I  trust  you  will  all  aid  your  worthy  chair- 
man in  putting  a  stop  to  such  unworthy  exhibitions. 

Your  treatment  of  the  dress  question  seems  to  have  run 
into  somewhat  strange  channels.  It  is  interesting  to  find 
any  one  citing  Paine's  unintelligent  remark,  and  funny  to 
think  of  Paine's  accepting  the  fig-leaf  story  as  historical. 
He  had  n't  then  reached  the  "  age  of  reason."  Carlyle's 
statements  must  always  be  received  with  caution.  His 
extreme  prejudice  led  him  into  extraordinary  blunders. 
I  am  glad  you  decided  that  not  every  industry  which 
affords  employment  is  morally  justified.  I  wish  some 
one  of  you  would  make  a  list  of  immoral  industries. 


186        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

The  moral  significance  of  dress  you  do  not  seem  to 
have  touched  on.  Did  you  ever  ask  yourselves:  (1) 
What  connection  is  there  between  dress  and  intelligence, 
and  why  do  the  lower  animals  not  dress?  (2)  What 
connection  is  there  between  the  use  of  dress  and  the 
use  of  tools  ?  (3)  How  far  does  dress  express  character? 
(4)  How  far  is  it  hypocritical  ?     Consider  these. 

And  now  I  come  to  a  question  I  have  done  my  best 
to  avoid,  —  the  question  of  socialism.  You  know  what 
my  views  are,  and  you  know  that  I  have  never  tried  to 
impose  them  upon  you.  I  wished  to  put  off  the  whole 
question  until  such  time  as  you  should  have  gained 
sufficient  knowledge  and  sufficient  experience  to  answer 
it.  I  hope  you  will  pardon  me  if  I  say  that  at  present 
you  have  neither.  After  it  arose  in  my  mind  in  1865 
it  took  me  twenty-six  years  of  study  and  experience  in 
various  countries  to  come  to  a  definite  conclusion  regard- 
ing it,  to  realize  its  full  meaning,  to  see  its  moral  impli- 
cations and  its  relations  to  liberty.  There  is  no  reason, 
therefore,  why  you  should  feel  hurt  if  I  say  that  at 
present  you  are  not  ready  to  answer  it.  You  will  all 
be  wiser  twenty-six  years  hence  than  you  are  now,  else 
it  will  be  sad  indeed. 

I  did  not  wish  you  even  to  give  much  attention  to 
socialism  at  present,  and  my  reason  was  this.  I  knew 
that  a  certain  number  of  you,  on  the  basis  of  very  slender 
knowledge  and  experience,  had  already  drawn  a  conclu- 
sion, and  placarded  yourselves  socialists.  That  certainly 
was  no  fit  frame  of  mind  for  undertaking  the  study.  I 
hoped  that  when,  owing  to  our  studies  together,  you 
should  have  seen  reason  to  doubt  the  justice  of  your 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  187 

conclusion,  and  recovered  your  impartiality  of  judgment, 
we  might  take  up  the  question  together  in  connection 
with  the  masquerade  scene  in  the  second  part  of  "  Faust " 
where  it  is  admirably  treated.  I  shall  be  sorry  if  you 
cannot  wait  until  next  winter  when  we  shall  take  that 
up.  We  may  not  be  able  to  answer  the  question  even 
then,  but  I  think  we  shall  be  able  to  put  it  correctly, 
which  is  no  small  step  forward.  Meanwhile,  I  trust 
you  will  drop  your  socialist  placards  and  try  to  obtain 
an  unbiased  frame  of  mind.  In  saying  this,  I  am  merely 
pleading  for  scientific  coolness  of  judgment.  I  merely 
wish  you  to  lay  aside  all  passion  and  sentimentality, 
and  let  science  do  its  perfect  work.  I  see  from  several 
letters,  which  I  have  received  within  a  week,  that  some 
of  you  have  considerable  difficulty  in  doing  this. 

Your  secretary  makes  you  say,  "  We  see  reason  enough 
why  we  should  be  socialists."  I  wonder  whether  the 
whole  class  would  have  been  willing  to  subscribe  to 
this.  If  Marxian  socialism  is  meant,  I  know  that  some 
of  you  would  have  declined.  Only  if  socialism  is  taken 
to  mean  enthusiasm  of  humanity,  a  fervent  desire  for, 
and  endeavor  after,  the  highest  welfare  of  every  human 
being,  would  all  of  you  have  subscribed,  I  am  sure.  In 
that  sense  I  hope  I  am  a  socialist  of  the  most  ardent 
sort,  but  in  no  other.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the  term 
"  socialism "  has  been  degraded  from  its  true  signifi- 
cance, and  made  to  mean  an  economic  system  in  which 
the  state  shall  own  all  the  means  of  production  and  pri- 
vate capital  be  prohibited.  Such  socialism  is  a  matter 
of  kitchen  and  scullery,  and  I  doubt  seriously  whether 
many  of  you  profess  it.     Those  who  do  have  certainly 


188        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

accepted  it  on  faith  and  not  through  reason.  I  do  not, 
of  course,  presume  to  interfere  with  anybody's  faith  ; 
that  is  his  own  affair ;  but  faith,  which  makes  sects  and 
sectarians,  should  not  be  confounded  with  science,  which 
makes  free  and  universal  men  and  women.  Those  who 
placard  themselves  socialists  are  simply  sinking  down 
into  a  sect  and  abandoning  the  glorious  universality  of 
science.  I  have  managed  to  live  nearly  sixty  years 
without  wearing  a  single  placard,  and  all  the  best  that 
is  in  me,  including  my  interest  in  and  love  for  you,  is 
due  to  that  fact.  Placards  narrow  one's  influence  and 
paralyze  one's  hands.  How  many  men  do  I  know 
whose  lives  have  been  sterilized  and  travestied  by  the 
early  adoption  of  some  placard,  philosophic  or  religious ! 
Once  more  your  secretary  makes  you  say :  "  We  are 
sure  that,  so  far  as  the  end  is  concerned,  you  agree  with 
us,  so  far  as  the  means  we  differ;  we  all  have  the  same 
idea,  and  we  are  approaching  it  each  (in)  his  own  way." 
I  am  glad  to  believe  that  that  is  true,  but  it  certainly 
is  not  so  if  what  you  are  made  to  say  immediately  before 
is  true,  viz. :  "  We  hope  to  utilize  all  the  good  you  have 
taught  us  toward  the  attainment  of  such  a  form  of  gov- 
ernment where  true  worth  and  position  will  consist  in 
honor  and  fitness,  where  every  individual  will  be  the 
concern  of  the  state,  and  where  the  state  will  see  to  it 
that  all  things  good,  true,  and  beautiful  are  enjoyed  by 
all  to  the  full  extent  of  their  value.  This  to  us  is 
socialism."  Now,  if  this  is  the  end  you  are  aiming  at, 
it  is  certainly  not  the  one  I  am  aiming  at.  This  is  to 
me  not  socialism,  but  superstition,  and  the  saddest  form 
of  it. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  189 

In  the  old,  prescientific  days  men,  through  their  imagi- 
nations, formed  images  of  gods,  and  then  bowed  down 
before  them,  in  fear  and  terror,  cowering  before  their 
own  products.  We  look  down  upon  such  people ;  but 
how  much  better  are  we  than  they  if,  misusing  our 
intelligence,  we  set  up  such  abstract  idols  as  the  state, 
and  then  expect  it  to  do  everything  for  us  ?  The  state 
is  a  pure,  helpless,  inactive  abstraction ;  you  and  I  and 
our  fellows  are  the  only  reality  which  can  effect  any- 
thing. Take  us  away,  and  what  could  the  state  do? 
The  state  is  a  mere  abbreviation  for  a  certain  number 
of  individuals  acting  together  in  a  certain  way  for  a 
certain  purpose.  It  is  the  individuals  that  do  every- 
thing, and  it  is  to  them  that  you  must  look  if  you  wish 
anything  done.  What  is  true  of  "state"  is  true  of 
"  government,"  and  all  similar  terms.  When  taken  for 
realities,  they  become  mere  idols,  and  all  reliance  on 
them  is  practical  idolatry  and  crass  superstition.  What 
you  are  trying  to  do  (if  you  are  correctly  reported)  is 
to  set  up  new  idols  and  look  to  them  for  help  and 
paternal  care ;  what  I  am  trying  to  do  is  to  induce  you 
so  to  develop  your  own  powers  that  you  shall  be  able  to 
help  and  care  for  yourselves.  I  wish  to  see  you  free 
and  independent,  not  bound  and  dependent.  Then  you 
yourselves  "  will  see  to  it  that  all  things  good,  beautiful, 
and  true  are  enjoyed  by  all,"  without  waiting  for  your 
abstract  idol  to  do  it  for  you. 

Your  setting  up  the  state  as  a  helpful  idol  shows,  in 
the  clearest  possible  way,  how  much  preparation,  even  of 
a  philosophic  sort  (for  the  error  is  a  philosophic  one), 
you  need,  before  you  can  hope  to  deal  successfully  with 


190        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

such  questions  as  that  of  socialism.  Goethe  says,  or 
rather  makes  Mephistopheles  say, 

Am  Ende  hangen  wir  doch  ab 
Von  Kreaturen  die  wir  machten. 

That  is  true  so  long  as  we  are  in  the  power  of  Mephis- 
topheles. In  one  sense,  all  the  evil  of  the  world  has 
come  from  our  worshiping  the  "creatures  which  we 
have  made,"  —  gods,  state,  government,  etc.  The  whole 
aim  of  modern  philosophy  is  to  clear  away  these  crea- 
tures, idols,  and  phantoms  that  have  so  long  deluded 
and  enslaved  us,  and  to  show  us  that  we  ourselves  are 
the  true  reality  on  which  everj^thing  depends.  This 
was  my  main  purpose  in  opening  the  class  in  philosophy. 

Your  secretary  further  makes  you  say,  "We  even 
go  so  far  as  to  adopt  the  theories  of  political  economy, 
proposed,  after  many  years  of  unceasing,  untiring,  true 
philanthropic  labor,  by  Karl  Marx."  When  I  read  these 
words  I  could  not  believe  my  own  eyes ;  and,  frankly, 
I  do  not  believe  they  are  true.  I  cannot  believe  that 
the  class  which  I  have  known  for  a  year  and  a  half 
would  "adopt"  theories  from  anybody,  however  untiring 
or  philanthropic.  I  cannot  imagine  anything  more  alien 
to  the  spirit  which  I  have  tried  to  evoke  than  bowing 
before  any  man's  authority,  or  "  adopting  "  untried  theo- 
ries on  any  account.  I  had  hoped  to  see  each  of  you 
work  out  his  or  her  own  theories,  and  not  be  a  mere 
play  actor  of  others'  theories.  So  only  are  you  free. 
Was  I  altogether  wrong? 

Still  further  on  you  are  made  to  say :  "  A  Marx  Cir- 
cle has  been  organized  to  meet  (on)  Sunday  mornings 


(    UNIVERSITY 


THE  UNDERLYING  ^^Pft^-^^'^  191 

from  9  to  11.  We  intend  to  study  his  work ;  to  test  it 
with  all  our  powers ;  to  seek  the  truth  for  its  own  sake 
and  to  act  accordingly."  I  do  not  know  what  to  make  of 
this.  First,  it  seems,  you  "  adopt "  Marx's  theories,  and 
then  you  proceed  to  "  test  them  with  all  your  power ;  to 
seek  the  truth  for  its  own  sake."  In  other  words,  after 
having  found  and  "  adopted  "  the  truth,  you  still  go  on 
to  seek  it !  What  can  this  mean?  Is  it  not  just  the 
old  mediaeval  position,  Credo  ut  intelligam  (I  believe 
that  I  may  understand)?  "I  do  not  seek  to  understand 
that  I  may  believe,"  says  St.  Anselm,  "  but  I  believe  that 
I  may  understand.  For  I  believe,  further,  that  unless 
I  believe,  I  shall  not  understand."  Have  you  gone  back 
to  faith  and  mediae valism  ?  Your  words  mean  at  least 
that  you  have  "  adopted  "  Marx's  theories  on  faith,  since 
you  now  find  it  necessary  to  form  a  circle  in  order  to 
"study"  and  "test"  them.  I  do  not  for  a  moment 
believe  that  this  is  what  the  class  means,  and  I  should 
be  glad  to  have  an  expression  of  its  views  on  the 
mediaeval  method.  It  would,  indeed,  be  strange  if  "  Das 
Kapital "  were  to  be  treated  as  a  new  revelation,  or  a  new 
Torah,  which  had  to  be  "  adopted  "  on  faith  as  authori- 
tative and  then  studied  with  a  view  to  understanding. 
Must  the  Hebrew  accept  a  new  Torah?  You  must 
now  see  what  good  reason  I  had  to  put  off  the  discus- 
sion of  socialism  until  such  time  as  you  had  ceased  to 
"adopt"  its  theories  on  faith  and  had  regained  an 
unbiased  attitude. 

I  cannot  see  how  any  one  can  talk  of  the  "true 
philanthropic  labor"  of  Marx.  That  dogma  must  be 
one   of   those   adopted   on  faith,  which,  according  to 


192        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

Cardinal  Manning,  "must  conquer  history."  Is  that  labor 
philanthropic  which  fosters  class  hatred;  which  seeks 
to  make  one  class  of  the  people  believe  that  its  suffer- 
ings are  all  due  to  the  rapacity  and  cruelty  of  another ; 
which  makes  war  upon  the  free  institutions  which  it 
has  taken  thousands  of  years  to  build  up  ;  which,  instead 
of  striving  to  raise  the  unfree  to  the  level  of  the  free, 
tries  to  drag  down  the  free  to  the  level  of  the  unfree ; 
which  would  take  away  the  conditions  of  private  ini- 
tiative, which  has  been  the  chief  agent  in  human  prog- 
ress; which  would  put  an  end  to  the  struggle  which 
has  developed  all  that  is  truly  human,  all  that  has  any 
moral  value,  in  us,  and  reduce  us  to  the  condition  of 
children  cared  for  by  a  paternal  abstraction?  One  of 
the  objections  which  the  "Abend  Blatt"  has  to  me  is, 
that  I  have  tried  to  put  an  end  to  the  spirit  of  hatred 
and  vengeance,  and  reconcile  class  with  class.  Can  the 
spirit  which  urges  such  objections  be  called  philan- 
thropic ?  Surely  a  socialism  which  fosters  social  hatred 
is  a  contradiction  in  terms. 

I  am  glad  to  hear  that  some  of  you  are  ready  to  start 
new  classes  and  circles ;  but,  in  duty  to  the  Alliance, 
I  must  ask  those  persons  before  doing  so  to  tell  me  (1) 
just  what  they  propose  to  do ;  (2)  who  are  going  to  join 
them.  I  told  Mr.  C some  time  ago  that  I  disap- 
proved of  the  class  in  logic  as  unnecessary.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  objection  then  given,  there  is  this :  that  next 
winter,  when  we  come  to  deal  with  Aristotle,  we  shall 
be  able  to  take  up  logic  in  its  proper  connection,  and 
60  to  see  its  real  meanings  and  bearings.  I  must,  there- 
fore, deprecate  the  opening  of  a  logic  class  at  present. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  193 

As  to  the  Marx  Circle,  it  would  obviously  be  pure 
waste  of  time  for  persons  who  have  already  "  adopted  " 
Marx's  theories.  I  therefore  deprecate  that  as  useless. 
Even  if  you  had  not  "adopted"  these  theories,  the 
time  has  not  come  for  you  to  study  Marx  or  modern 
socialism  with  any  hope  of  a  right  result.  Socialism,  like 
everything  else,  must  be  seen  in  its  historical  relations. 
To  consider  it  apart  from  these  would  be  to  condemn 
yourselves  to  prejudice  and  misunderstanding.  The 
economic  man  is  a  mere  abstraction,  and  cannot  be 
studied  to  any  purpose  apart  from  the  whole  nature  of 
man.  If  you  are  really  interested  in  socialism,  then 
study  it  genetically,  and  in  connection  with  all  human 
history.  To  aid  in  this,  I  recommend  to  the  philosophy 
class,  for  summer  study,  the  works  of  Plato,  the  first 
great  socialist.  Later  on,  we  shall  be  able  to  study 
Marx  from  the  standpoint  of  universal  history. 

I  read  Marx's  "  Das  Kapital "  when  it  first  came  out 
in  1867  ;  but  I  recognized  that  I  was  not  then  able  to 
deal  with  it,  not  having  sufficient  knowledge.  I  read  the 
enlarged  edition  sixteen  years  later,  and  then  I  was  far 
beyond  it.     Has  the  whole  ever  appeared  in  English  ? 

And  now,  my  dear  friends,  I  hope  you  will  not  mis- 
understand all  this.  I  have  not  the  least  intention  of 
interfering  with  your  liberty  of  thought,  or  imposing 
my  views  upon  you.  I  am  merely  trying  to  protect  you 
against  having  the  views  of  others  imposed  upon  you 
as  matters  of  faith,  and  to  induce  you  to  conduct 
your  studies  in  a  truty  scientific  spirit  and  method, 
with  patience  and  without  passion.  If  you  should 
look  at  social  questions  through  the  veil  of  your  own 


194        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

sufferings,  you  would  certainly  see  them  all  distorted. 
You  must  try  to  look  at  them  dispassionately,  and  from 
many  points  of  view,  like  men  and  women  who  are 
eager  to  discover  the  truth  and  to  live  by  it. 

I  think  that  your  secretary  has  (unwittingly,  I  am 
quite  sure)  misrepresented  a  part  of  you  at  least,  and 
perhaps  the  whole,  attributing  to  you  his  own  views. 
Here,  as  often,  the  wish  has  been  father  to  the  thought. 
I  am  sure  that,  as  soon  as  he  recognizes  his  mistake,  he 
will  acknowledge  it,  and  make  due  apology.  I  trust 
that  no  attempt  will  be  made  to  commit  the  class,  now 
or  ever,  to  any  creed,  social  or  other,  or  to  impose  any 
placard  upon  it  that  might  make  it  less  than  human. 
I  hope  that  the  rooms  of  the  Alliance,  which  at  my 
request  were  intrusted  to  me,  will  not  be  used  for 
propaganda  of  any  sort.  They  were  given  to  earnest 
students,  not  to  apostles  of  sectarian  creeds.  There  is 
always  a  desire  on  the  part  of  fanatics  to  capture  any 
promising  movement  for  its  own  ends.  Soon  after  I 
founded  the  society  which  afterward  took  the  name 
of  Fabian,  —  a  name  meant  to  show  that  it  wished  to 
delay,  and  devote  itself  to  profound  study,  before  begin- 
ning any  apostolic  work,  —  a  number  of  socialists  being 
unwarily  admitted  into  it  turned  it  aside  from  its  noble 
purpose,  and  committed  it  to  a  creed  "adopted"  on 
faith.  I  then,  of  course,  left  it.  I  hope  no  such  mis- 
fortune will  happen  to  our  present  work.  I  hope  you 
will  go  on  developing  yourselves  into  great  individuals 
and  personalities,  ready  for  anything,  prepared  to  do 
your  highest  duty,  without  waiting  indefinitely  for  a 
great  social  revolution. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIKIT  19$ 

Please  to  send  me  a  list  of  the  books  you  wish  to 
buy  for  immediate  use.  I  have  quite  a  number  which 
I  wish  to  send  you. 

I  am  much  delighted  to  hear  of  Mr.  L 's  present. 

You  will  not  omit  to  thank  him  for  it.  I  am  sorry  he 
has  to  leave  without  visiting  me  as  he  hoped  to  do. 
He  sails  to-day  for  France. 

And  now  good-bye.  Let  nothing  disturb  the  delightful 
relation  that  exists  between  us.  Let  us  remain  brothers 
and  sisters,  devoted  to  simple  truth  and  righteousness. 

I  am  ever  yours  affectionately, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  June  13,  1900. 
My  dear  Friends :  Your  last  week's  discussion  upon 
"  Worry  and  Excitement "  seems  to  have  covered  a  pretty 
wide  field.  The  recommendation  of  sodium  bromide, 
as  an  antidote  to  worry,  was  bad.  We  ought  to  be  able 
to  depend  entirely  on  the  natural  powers.  Hindoo  con- 
templation likewise  is  a  poor  specific.  The  true  specific 
is  the  complete  mastery  of  one's  self ;  but  this  involves  a 
good  many  conditions,  —  health,  courage,  patience,  and 
a  satisfactory  view  of  the  meaning  of  life.  That  was 
what  gave  Socrates  his  infinite  calm.     I  am  very  sorry 

Miss  C 's  paper,  which  was  excellent,  did  not  arrive 

in  time.  It  was  posted  on  Friday  morning.  I  hope 
she  will  still  read  it.  Would  you  kindly  give  your 
papers  to  the  secretary  ten  days  before  the  date  at 
which  they  are  to  be  read?  It  takes  some  time  to 
bring  them  here,  to  read,  and  to  return  them. 


196        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

I  must  correct  a  mistake,  and  apologize  to  your 
recording  secretary  for  making  it.  He  did  not  say  that 
the  whole  class  were  socialists,  or  had  adopted  Marx's 
social  theories ;  he  asserted  this  only  of  a  certain  indefi- 
nite portion.  I  am  sincerely  sorry  for  having  misrep- 
resented him,  and  hope  he  will  accept  this  apology. 

I  am  distressed  to  learn,  from  many  quarters,  that  there 
are  a  few  unruly  members  in  the  class  who  obstruct  the 
work  of  the  evening  by  making  frivolous  points  of  a  par- 
liamentary sort,  and  who  try  to  set  up  their  own  wills 
against  the  well-considered  and  wholesome  rules  of  the 
house  committee.  I  hope  you  will  do  your  best  to  con- 
vince these  brothers  of  the  wrong  they  are  doing  the 
whole  class,  and  induce  them  to  behave  in  a  thoughtful, 
kindly  spirit.  The  house  committee  has  my  complete 
confidence,  and  has  done  its  work  admirably,  deserving 
the  gratitude  of  every  one.  Among  the  few  malcontents 
there  seems  to  prevail  the  notion  that,  somehow  or  other, 
they  are  being  deprived  of  their  rights,  because  they  must 
leave  the  rooms  at  eleven  o'clock.  Now  you  all  know 
that  none  of  us  have  any  rights  of  any  sort  in  these  rooms, 
but  only  privileges,  and  I  am  very  sure  that  most  of  you 
are  truly  grateful  for  these.  At  my  earnest  request 
the  generous  gentlemen  whose  money  supports  the 
Educational  Alliance  gave  these  rooms  for  the  use  of 
the  class ;  and  the  conditions  of  the  gift  they,  of  course, 
must  be  allowed  to  determine.  They  may  close  and 
open  the  rooms  when  they  please,  and  no  one  has  any 
right  whatever  to  complain.  We  ought  to  be  grateful 
that  they  are  open  at  all.  The  rooms  were  intrusted 
to  me,  and  as  the  representatives  of  our  kind  benefactors 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  197 

I  appointed  a  house  committee  to  take  charge  of  the 
rooms  with  their  contents  and  to  regulate  their  use. 
Any  complaint  against  them  is  a  complaint  against  me 
and  the  gentlemen  of  the  Alliance.  I  am  glad  to  know 
that  the  efforts  of  the  committee  have  been  duly  appre- 
ciated by  all  except  a  small  number  who  have  sent  their 
names  to  me.  Apart  from  these,  I  know  that  you  all 
recognize  the  evil  of  late  hours,  and  would  not  will- 
ingly encourage  them.  In  any  case,  the  regulations  of 
the  house  committee  must  be  observed  without  complaint 
or  rebellion.  We  are  all  anxious  to  have  the  best  use 
made  of  the  rooms ;  but  we  cannot  sacrifice  the  good  of 
all  to  the  wishes  of  a  few.  If,  however,  any  large  major- 
ity of  the  class  should  desire  to  have  the  rooms  kept 
open  until  midnight,  and  would  state  their  reasons,  I 
should  be  most  happy  to  give  these  due  consideration. 
I  hope,  however,  there  will  be  no  further  talk  of  rights 
which  do  not  exist,  and  that  the  few  malcontents  will 
recognize  their  mistake  and  become  quiet. 

There  seems  to  be  some  trouble  about  the  payment 
of  the  very  small  dues  which  the  class  voted  to  levy 
upon  its  members  monthly.  That  is  beyond  measure 
surprising.  In  order  that  there  may  be  no  difficulty 
about  so  small  a  matter,  I  shall  ask  the  treasurer  to 
send  me  every  month  the  names  of  those  members 
who  have  not  paid  their  dues,  and  I  will  pay  these 
out  of  my  own  pocket,  in  order  that  there  may  be  no 
suspensions.  As  far  as  I  can  see,  the  house  committee 
and  the  treasurer  have  only  done  their  duty. 

We  must,  in  the  future,  exercise  a  little  caution  in 
the  admission  of  new  members.     Now  that  we  have  our 


198        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

own  rooms,  we  are  exposed  to  dangers  that  did  not  exist 
before,  and  we  must  meet  them  with  caution.  Hence- 
forth, those  who  wish  to  become  members  will  give  their 
names,  and  their  reasons  for  desiring  admission,  to  the 
president  of  the  Young  Women's  Club.  The  club,  after 
considering  these,  will  send  them  to  me,  and  I  will  deal 
with  them  as  may  seem  best.  Of  course  we  will  exclude 
no  one  who  desires  to  come  in  as  a  listener  or  as  a  pupil. 
We  are  a  class,  and  not  a  club. 

I  take  these  things  into  my  own  hands,  or  turn  them 
over  to  committees,  in  order  that  the  time  of  the  class 
on  Saturday  evenings  may  not  be  wasted  on  business 
matters  which  really  belong  to  the  Alliance.  The 
class  will  henceforth  be  able  to  devote  its  whole  time 
to  its  proper  work,  while  the  small  matters  of  business 
will  be  managed  by  the  house  committee  and  the  treas- 
urer. Only  if  there  is  any  need  to  alter  the  amount  of 
the  monthly  dues  will  the  whole  class  be  called  upon 
to  attend  to  business.  It  will  be  understood  that  the 
house  committee  is  responsible  to  me,  as  representing 
the  Alliance,  and  not  to  the  class,  which  will  make  its 
suggestions  to  me. 

The  matter  of  the  Marx  Circle  does  not,  I  am  glad 
to  think,  concern  the  class  as  a  whole,  and,  therefore, 
need  not  be  considered  here.  I  have  written  about  it 
to  those  concerned. 

This  is  not,  my  very  dear  friends,  the  kind  of  letter  I 
like  to  write  to  you,  and  I  am  very  sorry  it  has  had  to  be 
done.  I  sincerely  trust  it  is  the  last  of  the  sort,  and 
that  we  can  return  to  far  more  important  subjects, — 
indeed,  to  our  proper  work. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  199 

■  I  have  been  very  proud  of  your  ability  to  carry  on 
that  work  by  yourselves,  and  of  the  harmony  that  has 
prevailed  among  you.  I  trust  nothing  will  occur  to 
diminish  that  pride,  but  that  the  class  will  go  on  toward 
ever  greater  truth  and  righteousness. 

I  am,  as  always, 

Most  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  June  19, 1900. 

My  dear  Friends :  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  you  passed 
Saturday  evening  in  a  lively  and  interesting  way.  I  am 
sorry  when  papers  returned  by  me  do  not  reach  you  in 
time ;  but  I  do  the  best  I  can.  You  must  remember  it 
takes  some  time  to  read  over  papers,  and  that  I  cannot 
always  do  it  the  day  they  arrive.  I  am  very,  very  busy. 
You  should  give  me  three  or  four  days  for  each  paper. 

Your  letter  this  week  greatly  relieves  me ;  for  infor- 
mation reaching  me  from  many  quarters  was  leaving 
me  with  the  conviction  that  an  unfriendly  and  caviling 
spirit  was  growing  up  in  the  class.  I  have  now  received 
several  assurances  that  this  has  been  exaggerated,  and  I 
am  very  glad.  If  we  cannot  attain  social  harmony  in 
the  class,  how  shall  we  attain  it  in  the  great  world? 
The  class  ought  to  be  the  school  for  the  world. 

I  am  afraid  the  name  you  have  chosen  for  yourselves 
("  The  Breadwinners'  Institute  ")  will  not  answer.  It 
is  too  vague.  It  might  be  a  pathological  institute,  and 
then  we  should  expect  to  find  insane  people  in  it.  The 
word  "institute"  by  itself  has  nothing  that  suggests 


200        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EAENERS 

culture.  You  had  perhaps  better  leave  the  subject  for 
the  present. 

I  have  already  suggested  that  you  should  form  your- 
selves into  knots  or  clubs  for  practical  work.  There  is 
nothing  invidious  or  exclusive  in  that.  There  are  many 
kinds  of  work  to  be  done,  demanding  as  many  kinds  of 
talent.  People  who  are  already  friends  work  best  to- 
gether, and  save  much  time  otherwise  wasted  in  the 
attempt  to  reach  a  mutual  understanding.  Let  each 
little  group  of  friends  unite  for  some  definite  form  of 
welldoing;  then  let  all  the  groups  meet  from  time  to 
time  for  consultation  and  mutual  aid.  Let  each  name 
itself  from  its  purpose,  and  not  from  any  belief  or  prin- 
ciple. This  is  the  only  way  to  avoid  idols  and  fanati- 
cism. Aristotle  wisely  said,  "  The  form  of  a  thing  is  its 
end  or  purpose."  Let  your  purposes  give  form  and 
name  to  your  clubs.  Remember  that  variety  in  unity 
is  the  formula  for  high  organization  and  high  social 
institutions,  and  that  names  or  placards  expressive  of 
creeds  are  mere  idols  and  instruments  of  fanaticism. 

At  certain  decadent  periods  in  the  world's  history 
men  return  to  a  childish  dotage.  Then  they  wish  to 
do  away  with  variety  and  revert  to  unity  or  sameness. 
If  the  dotage  is  of  the  intellectual  sort,  such  as  we  find 
in  the  Buddhists,  it  demands  nirvana,  utter  unconscious- 
ness, in  which  alone  multiplicity  can  be  extinguished. 
If  it  is  of  the  passionate,  fanatical  sort,  such  as  occurred 
in  the  Frenchmen  of  the  Revolution,  it  demands  the 
extinction  of  all  social  differences  and  distinctions,  and 
the  introduction  of  universal  equality.  In  either  case,  it 
demands  the  destruction  of  all  that  gives  meaning  and 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  201 

zest  to  life.  Along  with  this  dotage,  strange  to  say, 
there  goes  another  form  of  childishness  which  might 
seem  almost  incompatible  with  it,  —  the  fondness  for 
names  or  placards  designative  of  creeds  or  sects.  In 
old  Israel,  Greece,  and  Rome  no  one  wore  such  placards. 
Only  in  the  days  of  their  decay  did  these  arise.  But 
not  only  in  periods  of  decay  do  these  things  happen: 
they  happen  at  all  times  among  people  whose  minds 
are  in  a  childish  state.  Even  at  the  present  day  there 
is  a  large  number  of  childish  people  who  desire  the 
abolition  of  all  social  distinctions,  and  take  delight  in 
placards.  Such  are  the  socialists,  anarchists,  and  other 
sectarians.  No  truly  great  man  or  woman,  no  one  who 
has  attained  spiritual  freedom,  ever  belongs  to  a  sect  or 
wears  a  placard.  What  placard  would  fit  Moses,  Isaiah, 
Jesus,  ^schylus,  Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle,  Caesar, 
Dante,  Shakespeare,  Goethe,  Kant,  Washington,  Emer- 
son, and  the  like  of  them.  I  hope,  therefore,  that  in 
forming  your  clubs  you  will  aim  at  variety  in  unity,  and 
avoid  all  creed  placards.  All  true  and  useful  unity  is 
variety  of  function  determined  by  purpose. 

The  adoption  of  creed  placards  is  in  every  way  degrad- 
ing, narrowing,  and  injurious.  It  builds  up  idolatrous 
walls  of  distinction  between  sect  and  sect ;  it  unbrothers 
men;  it  panders  to  prejudice  and  blunts  the  sense  of 
truth.  Both  Catholics  and  Protestants  caU  themselves 
Christians;  but  they  distrust  and  hate  each  other. 
Christians  and  Muslims  both  call  themselves  religious 
men  and  worshipers  of  one  God;  but  their  swords  are 
at  each  other's  throats.  Socialists  and  anarchists  spring 
from  a  common  root ;  yet  they  detest  each  other,  and  both 


202         EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

detest  the  men  who  wear  no  placards.  Let  me  beseech 
you,  my  dear  friends,  to  avoid  placards  and  sects  as  you 
would  idolatry,  superstition,  or  aught  that  beclouds  the 
heaven  of  truth  and  right.  I  found  in  Emerson  —  that 
American  of  Americans  —  the  other  day,  three  lines  that 
marvelously  express  one  of  my  deepest  convictions : 

Oh,  what  is  Heaven  but  the  fellowship 

Of  minds  that  each  can  stand  against  the  world 

By  its  own  meek  and  incorruptible  will  ? 

And  again  this :  "  The  great  man  is  he  who  in  the  midst 
of  the  crowd  keeps,  with  perfect  sweetness,  the  inde- 
pendence of  solitude."  How  can  any  one  keep  such 
independence  if  he  attaches  himself  to  a  sect  and  wears 
its  badge?  How  can  any  one  be  great  who  fears  to 
face  the  world  by  himself? 

The  day  has  come,  I  think,  for  banishing  all  badges 
and  placards  and  idols  and  sects :  the  day  of  moral  free- 
dom, when  each  man's  bounden  duty  is  to  stand  for 
himself  in  all  his  incommunicable  uniqueness,  and  to 
express  to  the  world  what  he  alone  in  all  the  world 
knows  —  himself.     That  alone  is  manhood ;  that  alone  is 

nobility.    Mr.  C is  entirely  right  in  setting  great  store 

by  systematic  reading.  Even  good  literature  read  care- 
fully but  unsystematically  is  of  small  value.  System  is 
unity  in  variety,  and  the  variety  must  not  be  neglected. 
Dante  is  good  literature  ;  but  the  man  who  knows  Dante 
only  does  not  even  know  him. 

And  now,  good  night.    I  am,  my  dear  friends. 
Most  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  203 

Hurricane,  June  26,  1900. 

My  dear  Friends:  I  am  much  rejoiced  by  your 
letter  received  to-day,  and  particularly  by  the  account 
of  the  kindly  reception  given  to  the  recent  graduates. 
That  was  a  most  gracious   thing  to  do,   and  I  only 

regret  that  I  was  not  there.     Mr.  D ,  who  is  here 

and  who  takes  to  the  woods  like  a  deer,  has  regrets  of 
the  same  sort. 

I  was  sorry  to  have  to  throw  cold  water  on  the  name 
you  proposed  to  give  yourselves ;  but  it  really  was  not 
designative  enough.  Had  you  put  an  adjective  before 
"Institute,"  it  might  have  done  —  Breadwinners'  Cul- 
ture Institute  or  East  Side  Culture  Institute.  The 
breadwinners  of  Paris  are  bold  enough  to  call  their  cul- 
ture institutes  "  Popular  Universities,"  and  they  don't 
do  such  good  or  such  connected  work  as  we  do. 

One  fact  is  giving  me  great  delight,  and  that  is,  that 
so  many  of  you  are  beginning  to  devote  yourselves  to 
active  work.  There  is  no  education  like  that.  Indeed, 
any  education  that  does  not  result  in  that  is  vain.  The 
great  defect  in  the  ordinary  college  and  university  edu- 
cation is,  that  it  stops  with  knowing  and  does  not  go 
on  to  loving  and  doing.  It,  therefore,  never  really  gets 
appropriated ;  for  knowing  that  does  not  pass  into  habit 
and  act  is  never  ours,  but  remains  an  external  thing,  —  a 
mere  useless  accomplishment  to  be  vain  about.  And 
vanity  is  a  poor  substitute  for  work.  If  every  one  of 
you  would  translate  his  and  her  knowledge  into  love 
and  work,  we  should  have  an  educative  institute  —  call 
it  anything  you  like  —  such  as  the  world  has  never 
seen.     We  should  not  need  to  tell  anybody  that;  the 


204        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

fact  would  speak  for  itself.  Once  more  let  me  suggest 
the  propriety  of  forming  yourselves  into  little  clubs  for 
work.  Let  each  group  of  friends  form  such  a  club  with  a 
definite  end ;  let  it  work  quietly  and  steadily,  and  it  will 
be  productive  of  such  noble  joy  and  satisfaction  that  life 
will  be  transformed  for  you.  Let  your  chief  thought  be 
for  others  and  their  needs  and  interests.  It  is  Words- 
worth who  says : 

The  man  whose  eye 
Is  ever  on  himself  doth  look  on  one, 
The  least  of  Nature's  works,  one  who  might  move 
The  wise  man  to  that  scorn  which  wisdom  holds 
Unlawful,  ever. 

To  live  is  to  have  interests ;  to  live  nobly  is  to  have 
broad  or  universal  interests.  There  is  no  reason  why 
our  class  should  not  be  the  very  providence  and  inspi- 
ration of  the  whole  East  Side,  if  its  members,  bound 
together  by  love,  will  only  forget  their  own  troubles, 
and  devote  themselves  to  the  spiritual  elevation  of 
their  neighbors.  That  is  the  very  essence  of  religion; 
if  you  do  that,  it  does  not  make  so  much  difference 
what  you  believe.  But  you  must  never  forget  that 
the  first  of  all  spiritual  blessings  is  freedom.  In  the 
moral  world,  to  be  means  to  be  free. 

If  you  fully  realize  this,  you  will  understand  why 
certain  doctrines  which  have  shown  themselves  among 
some  of  you  —  doctrines  fatal  to  all  true  liberty  —  have 
filled  me  with  dismay,  and  made  me  act  as  I  hate  to 
have  to  act.  It  is  the  sense  of  freedom  that  imparts 
to  us  all  true  dignity  and  nobility,  and  makes  it  impos- 
sible for  us  to  descend  to  envy,  hatred,  or  meanness. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  205 

Therefore,  in  all  that  we  do,  our  first  care  should  be 
the  safeguarding  of  moral  liberty  and  its  conditions. 

What  I  hear  about  Dr.  H 's  lecture  is  very  satis- 
factory. Had  he  come  as  a  mere  theoretical  partisan,  I 
should  have  been  sorry,  for  among  truth  seekers  there 
should  be  no  parties ;  but  since  he  came  to  tell  you  facts, 
and  left  you  to  draw  your  own  conclusions,  he  was  con- 
ferring a  real  benefit.  I  have  never  ventured  to  discuss 
current  questions  in  the  class,  for  the  reason  that  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  do  so  without  seeming  to  drag  in 
the  spirit  of  party.     On  the  Boer  question  I  entirely 

agree  with  Dr.  H ;  but  that  is  a  purely  personal 

matter.  Having  no  first-hand  facts,  I  could  not  make 
propaganda  for  my  opinion.  And  this  reminds  me  of  a 
little  incident  which  happened  shortly  before  I  left  town. 
At  the  close  of  the  Class  one  evening  a  young  man  came 
up  and  asked  me  to  keep  the  members  together  for  a  few 
minutes  and  interest  them  in  a  recent  strike.  I  flatly 
refused,  —  I  fear  with  unnecessary  brusqueness, — which 
perhaps  laid  me  open  to  misinterpretation.  I  refused 
because  our  class,  as  such,  has  nothing  to  do  with  strikes. 
The  day  will  come,  I  trust,  when  it  will  be  possible 
for  us  to  discuss,  in  a  truly  scientific  way,  the  whole 
question  of  strikes,  boycotts,  etc. ;  and  then  each  of  you 
will  be  in  a  position  to  determine  for  himself  what  his 
duty  is  in  any  particular  case.  You  may,  perhaps,  come 
to  find  that  you  have  a  duty  before  the  strike  begins  — 
to  prevent  it.  We  all  recognize,  I  am  sure,  that  strikes 
are  things  to  be  avoided  if  possible.  Just  think  what 
a  glorious  thing  it  would  be  if  we  could  convince  em- 
ployers and  employees  that  their  best  interests  are  bound 


206        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

up  together ;  if  we  could  induce  the  former  to  do  their 
best  for  the  latter,  and  the  latter  to  beware  of  making 
unreasonable  or  capricious  demands  on  the  former;  in 
a  word,  if  we  could  replace  the  spirit  of  jealousy  by  the 
spirit  of  love !  And  why  should  we  despair  of  doing 
this  ?  There  is  one  thing  that  nothing  in  the  world  is 
proof  against,  and  that  is  love.  It  is  the  universal  sol- 
vent. Blessed  are  they  that  love  ;  for  theirs  is  the  king- 
dom of  earth,  —  aye,  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The 
people  that  love  most  will  in  the  end  rule  the  earth. 

I  am  quite  unwell  to-night;  but  I  am  very  happy 
because  I  know  that  it  is  well  with  you,  —  that  the 

spirit  of  love  prevails  among  you.     Professor  B is 

here  and  sends  you  warmest  greetings.  I  owe  several 
of  you  letters.  They  shall  be  sent  as  soon  as  I  am 
able  to  write  them. 

Good  night !     I  am  ever  most  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  July  3,  1900. 

My  dear  Friends  :  The  account  sent  me  of  your 
last  Saturday's  discussion  is  very  satisfactory.  You 
seem  to  have  taken  up  the  subject  seriously  and  to  have 
brought  out  many  sides  of  it.  One  conclusion  arrived 
at  seems  to  me  deserving  of  deeper  consideration.  That 
one  should  always  tell  what  he  supposes  to  be  the  truth 
when  he  speaks  is  certain.  But  there  are  times  when 
it  is  even  inopportune  to  speak  the  truth,  and  what  we 
think  the  truth  is  not  always  such.  Any  man  who  has 
reached  middle  life  knows  that  he  has  had  to  abandon 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  207 

many  things  that  earlier  seemed  to  him  true,  and  he  is 
glad  if  he  has  not  preached  them  and,  so  to  speak,  made 
himself  responsible  for  them.  One  should  be  in  no 
hurry  to  be  an  apostle  of  things  about  which  there  is 
no  scientific  agreement.  There  is  enough  to  teach, 
about  which  there  is  no  reasonable  doubt.  Why  waste 
ourselves  on  the  doubtful  when  the  certain  has  not 
been  impressed?  There  are  many  subjects  about  which 
young  people,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  are  not 
fit  to  pronounce  a  judgment  —  things  which  require 
long  experience  and  that  temper  of  mind  which  comes 
only  with  years.  They  show  good  judgment  in  recog- 
nizing this,  and  waiting  patiently  till  the  experience  and 
temper  come.  I  am  sometimes  asked,  "  Why  should  I 
not  preach  socialism,  since  I  believe  in  it  with  my  whole 
heart  and  soul  ?  "  The  answer  is  :  "  You  have  no  right 
to  believe  in  it  in  any  such  way.  You  have  not  had  the 
necessary  study  and  experience."  I  know  you  will  find 
this  a  very  hard  saying.  When  I  was  twenty  I  thought 
I  knew  everything ;  at  sixty  I  am  sure  that  I  know  very 
little.  Inexperience  is  the  supreme  flatterer.  Experi- 
ence insists  upon  the  truth,  which  is  not  always  indul- 
gent to  our  opinion  of  ourselves.  How  often  has  she 
trampled  upon  my  most  cherished  beliefs  and  convicted 
me  of  rash  judgment  and  vanity !  How  many  beliefs  have 
I  had  to  abandon  because  I  had  adopted  them  rashly ! 

July  4. 
While,  therefore,  you  should  use  every  effort  to  arrive 
at  the  truth,  you  should  be  very  slow  in  asserting  that 
you  have  found  it,  and  in  assuming  the  right  to  preach  it 


208        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

to  others.  Preaching  is  altogether  a  poor  business,  any- 
how. It  is  the  trade  of  sophists,  rhetoricians,  and  dog- 
matists. Socrates,  the  supreme  teacher,  never  preached : 
he  had  too  much  respect  for  the  autonomy  of  his  fellow- 
men  for  that.  His  power  lay  not  in  preaching  or  in 
imposing  any  particular  set  of  doctrines,  but  in  teach- 
ing men  to  do  their  own  thinking,  which  is  the  best 
service  we  can  do  them  at  any  time.  What  is  any  par- 
ticular set  of  truths  compared  with  the  training  of  the 
faculty  for  all  truth?  Creeds  make  sects  ;  truth  makes 
men.  I  trust,  therefore,  you  will  endeavor  to  arrive  at 
truth  and  to  live  it.  Above  all,  cultivate  the  faculty 
for  truth,  the  power  of  seeing  things  without  veil  or 
prejudice. 

Since  I  last  wrote  to  you,  two  of  your  number  have 
come  here,  much  to  my  satisfaction  and  delight.  They 
both  seem  to  be  enjoying  themselves  in  this  wild  region. 

Mr.  D and  Mr.  C have  just  gone  down  to  the 

brook  to  bathe,  while  Mr.  F is  struggling  away  with 

compound  fractions. 

This  will  be  a  short  letter,  the  reason  being  that 
I  have  been  quite  unwell  in  the  last  few  days.  But  I 
want  to  ask  a  favor  of  you.  Will  those  of  you  who 
have  been,  or  are,  engaged  in  shops  or  factories  give  an 
account  of  your  experience,  in  writing?  A  collection 
of  such  accounts  would  be  most  valuable,  and  might  be 
published. 

And  now  good  night. 

I  am  most  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  209 

Hurricane,  July  11,  1900. 

My  dear  Friends  :  I  am  sorry  I  was  not  able  to  return 
the  second  paper  that  was  due  last  Saturday ;  but  I  am 
suffering  a  great  deal,  and  have  a  great  deal  of  work. 
I  send  it  along  with  this. 

I  am  glad  that  you  seem  to  have  agreed  about  the  duty 
of  childre n  to  parents,  and  its  limitation .  To  draw  the  line 
of  duty  is  by  no  means  easy,  and  requires  the  utmost  tact 
and  fineness  of  nature.     But  you  have  the  right  ideas. 

Nothing  in  connection  with  the  class  gives  me  so  much 
pleasure  as  the  fact  that  so  many  of  you  are  engaging 
in  real  missionary  work.  That  is  the  test  of  worth, 
and  the  most  potent  form  of  education.  It  is  work 
that  makes  us  serious,  takes  away  all  pessimism,  and 
makes  life  rich  in  meaning.  How  well  we  are  educated 
is  shown  by  the  work  we  are  able  to  do.  It  makes  me 
young  again  to  follow  you  in  your  work.  I  wish  every 
one  of  you  would  do  what  he  or  she  can.  Nothing 
would  so  much  insure  the  unity  and  harmony  of  our 
class,  nothing  would  give  life  so  much  zest,  nothing 
would  so  bring  you  into  contact  with  reality,  as  practical 
work.  There  seem  to  be  only  two  clubs  in  the  class  ; 
there  ought  to  be  a  dozen,  each  with  its  sphere  of  work. 

The  three  boys  who  are  here  seem  to  be  very  happy. 
They  are  all  working  bravely.    I  wish  you  were  all  here. 

Mr.  C has  got  into  his  tent  to-day.    I  can  see  his  light 

through  the  wet  woods  as  he  works  away  at  "  Parmen- 
ides."  It  is  delightful  to  think  that  several  more  of 
you  will  be  here  in  a  few  days.  I  am  counting  the  days 
till  they  come. 

I  am  yours  with  much  love, 

Thomas  Davidson. 


210        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

Hurricane,  July  18,  1900. 

My  dear  Friends :  You  must  not  be  anxious  on  my 
account.  I  am,  indeed,  suffering  a  great  deal;  but  I 
do  not  apprehend  any  danger.  I  do  as  much  work  as 
I  can,  and  I  don't  allow  myself  to  be  depressed.  The 
three  "  boys  "  who  are  here  are  a  great  comfort  to  me. 

By  the  bye,  has  just  left  for  New  York,  to  pass 

his  "personal  examination." 

Your  discussion  last  Saturday  seems  to  have  touched 

on  a  good  many  important  points.     I  heard  Mr.  D 's 

paper  before  it  was  sent,  and  made  the  same  strictures 
on  it  that  you  do.  I  am  greatly  interested  to  find  that 
you  all  seem  to  take  the  right  view  of  the  marital  rela- 
tion, holding  that  it  should  be  the  union  of  two  free 
beings,  who  remain  free  after  marriage.  If  this  were 
universally  the  case,  we  might  expect  to  see  marriage 
assume  a  new  significance,  and  a  new  family  life  come 
into  existence.  It  should  always  be  remembered  that 
the  relation  between  husband  and  wife  ought  to  be 
love,  which,  where  it  exists,  does  away  with  the  need 
of  legal  restrictions  and  makes  all  things  easy.  The 
question  of  rights  and  duties  should  never  come  up  in 
a  married  life,  nor,  indeed,  in  family  life  at  all.  That 
life  antedates  the  rise  of  law.  In  "King  Lear"  Cordelia 
is  all  wrong  when  she  talks  to  her  father  about  her  bond. 
Indeed  it  is  this  talk  that  forms  the  collision  in  the  play. 

Your  discussions  are  excellent;  but  what  is  most 
encouraging  is  the  practical  work  done  by  so  many  of 
the  members  of  the  class,  work  headed  by  the  presi- 
dent. That  work  will  tell  in  every  way,  and  give  us  a 
good  standing  in  the  neighborhood,  which  is  a  great 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  211 

matter.  We  must  overcome  all  prejudice  and  compel  the 
confidence  of  our  neighbors.  Then  they  will  work  with 
us,  and  the  leaven  of  your  good  work  will  leaven  the 
whole  mass.  We  must  teach  the  people  about  us  to  look 
to  us  as  their  friends  and  advisers  in  all  matters,  to  tell 
us  their  joys,  their  sorrows,  their  doubts  and  difficulties ; 
we  must  encourage  them  to  make  our  rooms  the  center 
of  their  social  life,  and  to  abandon  the  saloons  and  the 
pool  rooms.  If  we  can  do  that,  and  our  work  begins  to 
tell,  we  shall  soon  have  a  "  settlement "  which  will  de- 
serve the  name,  a  real  breadwinners'  home  and  college. 

I  read  Mr.  H 's  paper  last  evening.  From  a  liter- 
ary point  of  view  it  might  be  improved,  but  its  spirit  is 
excellent,  and  his  offer  is  one  that  you  ought  to  accept 
with  avidity. 

I  hope  your  excursion  to  Bronx  Park  came  off  and  was 
a  success.  What  fun  it  would  be  if  you  could  make  an 
excursion  to  Glenmore  !     You  must  do  that  some  day. 

Good  night.     I  am  yours  with  love, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  July  24, 1900. 

My  dear  Friends:  The  regular  class  letter  has  not 

come  to-day,  but  I  have  one  from  Mr.  F which  tells 

me  about  the  good  work  you  are    doing  in  practical 

ways.    You  can  hardly  imagine  how  much  I  am  cheered 

by  such  news. 

July  25. 

When  I  had  written  the  above  words  Mr.  F and 

Mr.  D came  up,  and  before  they  left,  the  evening 


212        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

was  gone.     We  had  a  great  talk.     To-day  I  have  Mr. 

H 's  letter,  and  am  glad  to  see  that  the  discussion 

on  friendship  was  so  fruitful.  You  should  read,  in  this 
connection,  the  two  books  on  friendship  in  Aristotle's 
"Nicomachean  Ethics."  I  would  add,  that  nothing  gives 
such  dignity  and  zest  to  life  as  noble  friendships. 

Mr.  C 's  proposition  in  regard  to  the  roof  garden 

of  the  Alliance  Building  is  worth  considering,  especially 
the  notion  of  conducting  children's  classes  during  the 
day.  But  you  must  not  scatter  your  efforts  too  much, 
and  you  must  endeavor  to  work  in  the  spirit  of  our 
class.  Better  do  a  few  things  well  than  many  things 
indifferently  or  ill.  You  may  find  it  hard  to  work 
under  a  director  whose  ideas  are  different  from  ours. 
But  you  are  certainly  right  to  lose  no  opportunity  of 
doing  good.  You  might  arrange  with  the  director  to 
have  the  entire  control  of  certain  classes. 

The  account  of  the  class's  visit  to  Pelham,  and  the 
telegram  they  sent  me  thence,  were  most  cheering.  I 
am  heartily  sorry  I  was  not  there,  and  still  more  sorry 
that  the  excursion  was  not  here.  I  hope  the  time  will 
come  when  the  whole  class  will  be  able  to  visit  me 
among  these  glorious  mountains. 

Mr.  K came  a  few  days  ago  and  is  doing  good 

work.      We  expect  Miss  C and  Miss  Z and 

Mr.  S to-morrow  to  supper.     I  am  looking  forward 

with  much  joy  to  their  coming.  They  are  now  sailing 
up  the  Hudson. 

I  am  most  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  213 

Hurricane,  August  2,  1900. 

My  dear  Friends :  Everything  seems  to  be  going 
on  smoothly  with  you  and  you  seem  to  be  doing  such 
good  work  that  I  can  only  stand  aside  and  admire. 
Every  week  brings  me  news  of  your  noble  efforts,  and 
thus  I  am  enabled  to  rise  above  my  suffering,  and  to  be 
happy  in  spite  of  it.     Go  on  and  prosper. 

There  are  eight  members  of  the  class  here  now,  and 
they  all  seem  to  be  enjoying  themselves.  The  weather 
is  glorious,  and  they  bathe,  fell  trees,  make  roads,  climb 
mountains,  and  do  everything  that  can  contribute  to 
health.  They  are  all  looking  strong  and  robust.  We 
shall  have  a  bonfire  to-morrow  night. 

Your  discussion  on  love  and  friendship  seems  to  have 
included  many  interesting  points.  Even  if  you  do  not 
arrive  at  definite  conclusions,  such  discussions  are  most 
valuable,  and  I  am  watching  the  progress  of  them  with 
the  deepest  interest.  At  the  end  of  the  summer  you 
will  be  surprised  to  see  what  ground  you  have  covered. 
You  will  have  become  aware  of  most  of  your  social 
duties  and  gained  motives  to  perform  them. 

The  "  eight "  send  you  their  warmest  greetings,  and 

I  am  most  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  August  8,  1900. 

My  dear  Friends :  You  will  have  to  be  content  with 
a  brief  letter  this  week,  as  I  am  in  poor  condition. 

I  am  much  interested  in  all  the  work  that  some  of 
you  are  doing,  and  hope  that,  sooner  or  later,  you  will  all 


214        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

be  workers.  I  owe  some  of  you  letters,  which  shall  be 
written  as  soon  as  I  am  able  to  do  so. 

I  am  not  sure  that  any  of  you  struck  the  limits  of  the 
respect  due  to  public  opinion.     If  I  were  able,  I  should 

try  to  make  them  clear  to  you.     Mr.  H 's  assertion 

that  only  in  a  socialistic  state  would  the  tyranny  of 
public  opinion  be  escaped  is  the  exact  opposite  of  the 
truth.    In  a  socialistic  state  public  opinion  would  be  all 

powerful.     Mr.  H is  always  sane  except  when  he 

talks  his  hobby. 

I  think  of  you  every  hour  of  the  day,  especially  dur- 
ing the  hot  weather.  I  wish  you  were  all  here.  Those 
who  are  here  seem  happy. 

I  am  very  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 


Hurricane,  August  22,  1900. 

My  dear  Friends :  I  was  most  sorry  not  to  be  able 
to  send  you  a  letter  last  week,  and  I  am  not  able  to  send 
you  much  this  week.     I  am  still  in  great  suffering. 

It  rejoices  me  greatly  to  hear  of  all  the  good  work 
you  are  doing,  and  I  take  the  deepest  interest  in  your 
discussions.  It  grieves  me  that  I  have  not  been  able  to 
return  all  the  essays  sent  to  me ;  but  the  truth  is,  I  am 
doing  all  the  work  I  can.  Let  no  one  suppose  that  his 
or  her  essay  has  been  neglected.  I  owe  several  of  you 
letters,  much  to  my  sorrow.  They  will  be  written  as 
soon  as  I  am  able  to  do  so. 

I  am  longing  to  return  to  you,  and  I  shall  probably 
do  so  in  October,  if  not  earlier.     You  will  be  glad  to 


THE  UNDERLYING  SPIRIT  215 

hear  that  it  is  possible  that  I  may  get  off  without  another 
operation,  though  I  shall  probably  have  to  suffer  for  a 
long  time. 

With  love  to  you  all,  I  am 

Yours  for  ever  and  ever, 

Thomas  Davidson. 

Hurricane,  August  29,  1900. 

My  dear  Friends  :  All  that  I  hear  about  you  —  your 
essays,  excursions,  charitable  work  —  is  most  encour- 
aging. I  am  looking  forward  to  the  time  when  I  shall 
be  able  to  rejoin  you  and  work  along  with  you.  It  seems 
probable  that  I  shall  have  to  undergo  another  operation, 
but  then  I  hope  to  be  well  and  keep  well. 

I  am  much  interested  in  Mr.  E 's  essay,  and  sin- 
cerely trust  that  he  will  put  in  practice  what  he  preaches. 
Pie  might  send  it  to  me. 

I  am  glad  you  are  laying  out  work  for  the  winter. 
We  must  prove  a  center  from  which  shall  radiate  whole- 
some influences  of  all  sorts. 

I  wish  I  were  able  to  write  you  longer  letters,  for  I 
have  very  much  to  say  to  you ;  but  I  am  hardly  able  to 
sit  up  for  more  than  a  few  minutes  at  a  time.  But  I 
trust  I  shall  be  able  to  make  up  for  it  in  the  winter. 

Miss  K is  not  very  strong  and  was  unable  to 

write  her  essay. 

I  am  most  affectionately  yours, 

Thomas  Davidson. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  VITALITY  OF  THE  IDEAL 

By  the   Editor  1 

Mii.  Davidson's  history  of  the  experiment  in  the  edu- 
cation of  the  wage-earners  broke  off,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, with  the  mention  of  his  effort  to  bring  the 
members  of  his  class  into  friendly  relations  with  a  num- 
ber of  wealthy  and  cultured  people. ^  This  social  feature 
of  the  work  was  continued.  Mr.  Davidson  arranged  a 
number  of  meetings  in  the  large  parlors  of  some  of  his 
friends,  where  the  active  members  of  the  class  were  given 
the  opportunity  to  meet  individuals  representing  a  phase 
of  life  different  from  the  one  with  which  they  had  been 
familiar  on  the  East  Side.  In  this  way,  also,  a  consid- 
erable number  of  persons  unacquainted  with  the  condi- 
tions of  the  people  in  the  lower  section  of  the  city  became 
interested  in  the  work,  and  have  since  then  remained 
its  stanchest  friends.  As  a  result,  some  of  them  have 
established  recreation  rooms  and  kindergartens  on  the 
East  Side,  where  the  work  has  been  carried  on  with  the 

1  This  chapter  has  heen  compiled  from  material  furnished  by  mem- 
bers of  the  original  class  in  History  and  Social  Science.  I  have, 
however,  draw^n  chiefly  upon  the  full  and  admirably  prepared  account 
sent  me  by  Mr.  Morris  R.  Cohen,  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee that  has  guided  the  movement  ever  since  Mr.  Davidson's  death. 
Much  of  what  follows  is  given  in  his  own  words. 

2  See  page  123. 

216 


THE  VITALITY  OF  THE  IDEAL  217 

assistance  of  some  of  the  young  women  of  Mr.  David- 
son's class. 

In  the  spring  of  1900  the  board  of  trustees  of  the 
Educational  Alliance  voted  the  sum  of  six  hundred 
dollars  in  order  to  make  it  possible  for  the  class  to 
establish  itself  in  quarters  of  its  own.  A  suite  of  rooms 
was  rented  and  devoted  exclusively  to  the  work  of  the 
various  classes.  One  of  these  rooms  was  set  apart  as 
a  reading  room  and  study.  To  cover  the  necessary 
expenses  over  and  above  the  rent,  the  members  of  the 
class  agreed  to  pay  dues.^  The  class  also  received  from 
the  friends  of  Mr.  Davidson  several  valuable  gifts  in 
the  form  of  furniture.  The  Educational  Alliance,  after 
several  futile  attempts  to  get  Mr.  Davidson  to  accept 
financial  remuneration  for  his  work,  resolved  to  present 
the  class  with  the  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars  for  the 
purchase  of  books,  as  a  slight  token  of  its  appreciation 
of  the  good  work  done. 

At  about  the  same  time  (May,  1900)  Mr.  Davidson 
left  the  city  for  his  summer  home,  there  to  gather 
strength  for  his  future  work.  The  members  of  the 
class  and  their  friends  arranged,  as  in  the  previous  year, 
a  farewell  meeting,  on  which  occasion  they  expressed 
their  gratitude  to,  and  appreciation  of,  Mr.  Davidson  as 
a  friend  and  as  a  teacher.  On  the  eve  of  his  departure 
he  called  together  some  of  the  members  in  the  new 
rooms,  which  had  not  yet  been  properly  furnished,  and 
there,  by  the  light  of  a  small  oil  lamp,  showed  how  poems 
and  stories  might  be  read  and  interpreted  to  children. 

^  These  dues  were  at  first  fixed  at  $1.20  per  year,  but  have  since 
been  raised  to  $3.     See  Appendix  B. 


218         EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

This  was  done  in  anticipation  of  the  establishment  of 
classes  for  children  of  the  neighborhood.  Those  who 
were  assembled  there  on  that  evening  will  never  forget 
the  impression  made  on  them  by  his  rendering  of  well- 
known  poems. 

For  the  summer  work  of  the  original  class  Mr.  David- 
son, at  the  suggestion  of  some  members,  outlined  a 
course  of  studies  on  practical  ethical  problems.  Each 
problem  was  treated  in  two  essays,  written,  the  one  by 
a  young  man,  the  other  by  a  young  woman  of  the  class. 
These  papers  were  sent  to  Mr.  Davidson  for  criticism, 
and  were  afterwards  read  by  the  members  at  their  regular 
Saturday  evening  meetings.  A  report  of  each  meeting 
was  sent  to  him  every  week,  and  he  replied  in  the  let- 
ters which  are  printed  in  this  volume.^  This  work  was 
carried  on  during  the  entire  summer,  and  proved  of  great 
profit  to  the  members. 

During  this  summer,  also,  a  number  of  the  members 
organized  classes  for  the  children  of  the  neighborhood. 
All  of  these  children  lived  in  crowded  tenement  houses, 
and  their  only  opportunity  for  play  and  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  fresh  air  was  on  the  pavements  of  the  dusty 
and,  owing  to  the  congested  traffic,  unsafe  streets. 
These  conditions  assumed  even  a  graver  character  dur- 
ing the  summer  months  when  the  school  buildings 
were  closed.  The  work  was  begun,  therefore,  primarily 
to  relieve  these  intolerable  hardships  of  the  children, 
and,  accordingly,  consisted  of  games,  calisthenic  exer- 
cises, baths,  and  frequent  outings  to  the  great  parks  of 
the  city.  Subsequently,  provision  was  made  for  the 
1  See  Chapter  V. 


THE  VITALITY  OF  THE  IDEAL  219 

aesthetic  and  moral  training  of  the  children  throughout 
the  year  in  classes  formed  with  the  aim  of  cultivating 
the  feelings  of  kindliness  and  sympathy.  In  these 
classes  appropiiate  stories  and  poems  were  read  and  dis- 
cussed ;  the  care  of  the  body,  habits  of  truth  telling,  of 
personal  cleanliness,  etc.,  were  inculcated.  [The  extent 
to  which  this  work  has  grown  may  be  gleaned  from  the 
fact  that  on  the  last  summer  outing  of  1903  as  many  as 
three  hundred  children  were  given  the  benefit  of  the 
country  for  a  day.  In  this  work  the  class  received  the 
support  of  generous  friends.] 

Almost  as  soon  as  Mr.  Davidson  reached  his  summer 
home  he  was  again  attacked  by  the  disease  which  preyed 
on  him  during  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life.  For  three 
months  he  suffered  the  most  agonizing  pain,  yet  he 
refused  to  give  up  his  daily  lectures  or  to  discontinue 
giving  mstruction  to  several  members  of  the  class  who 
were  with  him.  At  last,  finding  that  an  operation  could 
no  longer  be  postponed,  he  went  to  Montreal  to  have 
it  performed.  It  was  unsuccessful;  and  there,  in  the 
hospital,  he  breathed  his  last  on  September  14,  1900. 
Mr.  Davidson  was  attended  on  his  journey  to  Montreal 
by  one  of  the  members  of  his  class,  and  his  last  thoughts 
were  for  the  continuation  of  its  history,  the  only  manu- 
script that  he  had  taken  with  him. 

The  news  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Davidson  came  as  a 
great  personal  blow  to  the  members  of  the  class,  who  had 
all  learned  to  love  him  as  a  father,  but  it  did  not  make 
them  lose  courage,  or  faith  in  the  work  begun  under  his 
guidance.  The  members  came  together  and  resolved  to 
use  all  their  energy  toward  continuing  the  work  along 


220        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

the  lines  laid  down  by  him.  Their  two  years'  experience 
in  self-government  and  self-initiative  while  Mr.  David- 
son had  been  with  them  stood  them  in  good  stead.  An 
educational  committee  was  formed,  consisting  of  the 
members  who  were  teaching  the  several  classes,  and  the 
direction  of  the  educational  work  was  intrusted  to  their 
hands. 

The  committee  began  its  work  by  providing  for  the 
completion  of  the  "  Faust "  course  through  the  reading 
and  discussion  of  Mr.  Davidson's  manuscript  lectures 
on  the  second  part  of  "  Faust."  When  this  work  was 
completed  a  biographico-historical  course  was  outlined, 
suggested  by  Mr.  Davidson's  syllabus  of  lectures  on 
"The  Origins  of  Modern  Thought." 

This  course  was  planned  to  extend  over  several  years. 
For  the  first  year  the  subject  was  Hebrew  Prophecy. 
The  aim  of  this  part  of  the  course  was  to  make  the 
members  acquainted  with  (1)  the  general  character  of 
Hebrew  life  and  literature ;  (2)  the  character  of  the 
Hebrew  prophets  and  their  place  in  Hebrew  history  ; 
and  (3)  the  significance  of  the  contribution  of  Hebrew 
prophecy  to  modern  civilization.  Selected  portions  of 
the  Old  Testament,  with  references  to  the  works  of 
Cornill,  Driver,  and  Cheyne,  were  assigned  every  week 
for  home  reading,  and,  at  the  meetings,  papers  were  read 
and  discussed.  In  this  course  the  class  was  helped  by 
lectures  from  Rev.  D.  S.  Schulman  on  Isaiah,  Mr.  D.  S. 
Muzzey  on  Jeremiah  and  on  Jesus,  and  Rev.  Dr.  K. 
Kohler  on  Deutero-Isaiah  and  Ezekiel. 

This  historical  course,  however,  was  given  only  on 
alternate  Saturday  evenings.     On  the  other  Saturday 


THE  VITALITY  OF  THE  IDEAL  221 

evenings  Mr.  Percival  Chubb  generously  volunteered  to 
lead  the  class  in  the  study  of  Tennyson's  "In  Memoriam." 
He  continued  to  do  so  throughout  the  winter.  This 
course  was  conducted  along  lines  similar  to  those  pur- 
sued by  Mr.  Davidson  in  his  "  Faust  "course.  Mr.  Chubb 
read  and  expounded  the  meaning  of  the  poem,  and  the 
members  read  and  discussed  papers  on  the  various  ques- 
tions raised  by  the  poem,  such  as  the  doctrine  of  evolu- 
tion, faith  and  knowledge,  immortality,  Tennyson's 
mysticism,  etc.  In  the  study  of  this  poem  the  members 
made  frequent  use  of  Mr.  Davidson's  "  Prolegomena  to 
Tennyson's  '  In  Memoriam.'  " 

During  the  summer  of  1900  the  class  in  philosophy 
continued  its  work  with  the  study  of  Plato.  An  outline 
of  the  course,  embracing  the  study  of  all  the  more  impor- 
tant dialogues,  was  made  by  Mr.  Davidson,  and  essays 
on  the  various  topics  were  sent  to  him  for  his  criticism, 
and  were  afterwards  read  at  each  week's  meeting.  A 
report  of  the  discussion  that  followed  was  always  sent 
to  Mr.  Davidson,  and  in  reply  he  wrote  weekly  letters 
to  the  philosophy  class.  After  his  death  this  class  con- 
tinued the  study  of  Plato,  and  followed  this  up  with  a 
course  in  Aristotle's  "  Metaphysics."  The  doctrines  of 
these  philosophers  were  considered  with  special  reference 
to  their  bearing  upon  modern  thought.  In  this  work  the 
class  was  assisted  by  several  of  Mr.  Davidson's  friends. 

To  spread  the  influence  of  Thomas  Davidson,  and 
to  give  practical  expression  to  his  teachings  by  helping 
others,  the  educational  committee  instituted  classes  and 
study  circles  in  various  subjects.  These  classes  were 
mainly  of  three  kinds,  —  elementary,  academic,  and  what 


222      educatio:n^  of  the  wage-earners 

Mr.  Davidson  used  to  call  classes  in  the  culture  sciences. 
The  elementary  courses  were  intended  primarily  for  the 
people  of  the  neighborhood,  and  included  the  study  of 
English  grammar  and  composition,  United  States  history, 
geography,  and  arithmetic.  The  academic  classes  were 
intended  to  help  young  wage-earners  who  were  anxious 
to  continue  their  education,  and  included  instruction  in 
English  rhetoric  and  literature,  Latin,  Hebrew,  German, 
French,  algebra,  geometry,  and  physics.  The  culture 
courses,  besides  the  Saturday  evening  and  the  philos- 
ophy class,  included  classes  in  Greek  and  Roman  his- 
tory, with  a  section  for  the  study  of  the  Greek  drama ; 
a  class  for  the  study  of  the  history  and  theory  of  the  fine 
arts ;  and  a  class  for  the  study  of  logic  and  the  principles 
of  science.  In  addition  to  these,  classes  were  formed  in 
voice  culture,  stenography,  and  free-hand  drawing. 

By  the  summer  of  1901  the  original  class  in  social 
and  historic  science  had  thus  ceased  to  be  a  mere  class 
and  had  become  an  ethical  fellowship,  conducting  an 
educational  institution  of  considerable  magnitude.^  An 
executive  committee  was  elected  by  the  members  to  take 
charge  of  the  administrative  work.  Monthly  meetings 
were  instituted  to  enable  the  members  to  come  together 

1  The  movement  that  Mr.  Davidson  initiated  is  novsr  known  oflBcially 
as  "Branch  B  of  the  Educational  Alliance."  Hov^ever,  the  young 
men  and  women  who  constitute  the  movement,  out  of  loyalty  to  their 
teacher  and  in  order  to  emphasize  the  distinctiveness  of  their  aim 
and  ideals,  have  come  to  designate  themselves  "  The  Thomas  David- 
son Society."  The  Educational  Alliance  has  been  most  liberal  in  its 
dealings  with  the  Society,  giving  it  an  entirely  free  hand.  Its  work 
during  the  past  four  years  has  been  planned,  organized,  and  adminis- 
tered wholly  by  an  executive  committee  composed  of  seven  of  its  own 
members. 


THE  VITALITY  OF  THE  IDEAL  223 

and  have  free  and  informal  discussions  of  the  affairs  of  the 
society,  and  also  to  promote  the  spirit  of  friendship  by 
making  them  feel  that  they  belonged  to  a  group  of  active 
workers  united  by  a  noble  ideal.  To  enable  the  members 
to  get  a  more  comprehensive  view  of  the  work,  the  sum- 
mer of  1901  was  devoted  to  a  comparative  study  of  modern 
efforts  to  spread  culture  among  the  masses  of  the  people. 

During  the  academic  year  of  1901-02  the  work 
was  continued  along  the  same  lines.  The  Saturday 
evening  class  took  up,  on  alternate  Saturday  evenings, 
the  study  of  Greek  thought  and  civilization,  and  the 
study  of  Shakespeare's  '*  Julius  Caesar."  In  connection 
with  the  latter  work  various  papers  were  presented, 
bringing  out  the  part  played  by  the  Roman  element 
in  civilization.  The  class  was  helped  by  a  lecture  on 
"  Socrates  and  Intellectual  Piety  "  by  Mr.  D.  S.  Muzzey, 
and  one  on  Shakespeare  by  Mr.  Percival  Chubb.  The 
philosophy  class  continued  its  work  in  the  study  of 
Aristotle's  psychology,  ethics,  politics,  and  poetics.  It 
also  had  the  good  fortune  to  hear  Professor  Royce  who 
kindly  came  from  Harvard  to  lecture  to  it  on  "  Recent 
Conceptions  of  the  Infinite." 

The  efforts  of  the  new  executive  committee  were 
directed  toward  introducing  more  system  into  the  work 
of  the  various  classes  and  establishing  them  on  a  more 
permanent  basis.  A  new  department,  also,  was  organ- 
ized, namely,  a  club  department.  This  was  brought 
about  almost  accidentally.  In  the  spring  of  1901  one 
of  the  members  of  the  society  organized  a  number  of 
working  boys  who  used  to  congregate  in  the  neigh- 
boring street  into  a  club,  which,  under  his  influence, 


224        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

developed  into  a  Junior  Thomas  Davidson  Club.  This 
work  was  so  eminently  effective  that  it  encouraged  other 
members  to  start  similar  organizations,  so  that  there  are 
now  thirteen  of  these  clubs,  —  nine  for  boys,  three  for 
girls,  and  one  for  boys  and  girls,  —  with  an  aggregate 
membersliip  of  nearly  three  hundred. 

The  work  of  these  clubs  is  very  important,  not  only 
because  it  reaches  a  class  of  people  who  would  not  be 
otherwise  attracted  to  the  society,  but  also  because  it 
enables  the  club  leader,  who  acts  in  the  capacity  of  a 
personal  friend  to  the  club  members,  to  take  up  the 
actual  problems  which  face  young  wage-earners  —  ques- 
tions of  greater  personal  interest  and  of  more  vital  impor- 
tance than  those  that  can  be  taken  up  by  one  who  is 
merely  the  teacher  of  a  class. 

The  realization  of  the  importance  of  this  kind  of 
educational  work  led  several  members  of  the  society  to 
organize  a  class  for  the  study  of  the  problems  of  club 
leading.  Some  of  the  papers  read  at  the  meetings  of 
this  class  have  since  been  published. 

In  the  year  1902.a  class  was  formed  for  the  study  of 
the  principles  of  evolution.  The  first  part  of  this  course, 
dealing  with  organic  evolution,  was  begun  in  Februar}'-, 
1902;  the  second  part,  dealing  with  the  evolution  of 
social  institutions,  was  taken  up  the  following  year. 
This  class  has  been  under  the  leadership  of  two  of  the 
members  of  the  original  class,  one  of  whom  had  made 
a  specialty  of  biology,  the  other  of  history.  In  connec- 
tion with  this  class  frequent  meetings  were  held  in  the 
American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  where  the  remains 
of  primitive  peoples  were  studied  at  first  hand. 


I    UNIVERSITY 
THE  VITALITY  OF  THE  IDEAL  225 


A  most  important  advance  was  made  in  the  fall  of 
1902  by  the  organization  of  the  various  academic  classes 
into  a  regular  evening  high  school  course.  This  course 
was  instituted  in  order  to  afford  young  wage-earners, 
especially  those  who  had  just  left  the  elementary  public 
schools,  the  opportunity  of  a  systematic  course  of  study 
which  would  provide  mental  discipline  and  at  the  same 
time  lay  the  foundations  of  a  liberal  educatij)n.  As  these 
students  are  already  occupied  in  earning  their  livelihood, 
there  is  no  attempt  to  make  the  studies  bear  directly  on 
their  wage-earning  capacity.  The  course  is  primarily  a 
culture  course,  intended  to  make  the  pupils  broad  minded, 
able  and  willing  to  take  an  intelligent  and  active  inter- 
est in  the  various  important  questions  of  life.  For  this 
reason  history,  literature,  civics,  ethics,  and  economics 
are  emphasized,  though  physical  science,  mathematics, 
and  language  training  are  by  no  means  neglected.  It 
was  found  that  the  classes  in  the  culture  sciences  were 
not  so  successful  as  they  might  be  were  the  pupils  who 
attended  them  possessed  of  a  more  thorough  preliminary 
training.  One  of  the  motives,  therefore,  for  instituting 
the  high-school  course  was  to  supply  the  necessary  edu- 
cation which  would  prepare  the  young  wage-earner  for 
the  more  advanced  courses  outlined  by  Mr.  Davidson 
in  his  plan  for  a  Breadwinners'  College.^ 

The  reasons  for  the  organization  of  the  Davidson  High 
School  are  stated  as  follows  in  the  Fourth  Annual  Report 
of  the  chairman  of  the  executive  committee. 

It  is  almost  universally  recognized  that  the  age  at  which  the 
vast  majority  of  our  people  leave  school  is  a  most  critical  one  in 

1  See  pp.  76  seq. 


226         EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

every  one's  life.  It  is  the  time  when  we  cease  to  be  children  and 
become  young  men  and  young  women.  The  change  which  comes 
at  this  time  is  not  merely  a  physical  one,  it  is  also  a  mental  and 
moral  transformation.  It  is  a  time  when,  for  good  or  for  evil,  we 
become  conscious  of  power  and  ambition;  it  is  preeminently  the 
period  of  character  formation.  Yet  according  to  the  latest  report 
of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  more  than  ninety  per 
cent  of  our  young  people  are  at  this  period  of  their  lives  thrown 
into  the  world  with  its  many  difficulties  and  temptations,  without 
any  further  guidance  from  the  school.  Education  for  the  great 
many  stops  just  when  it  becomes  most  essential. 

Now  it  is  obvious  that  the  kind  of  education  needed  by  young 
people  at  this  stage  of  life  cannot  be  the  merely  intellectual  and 
formal  kind  to  which  the  public  schools  are  restricted.  What  is 
needed  is  some  agency  which  will  combine  the  best  features  of  the 
social  settlement  with  those  of  the  school  —  an  institution  which 
will  not  only  train  the  intellect  but  will  exercise  a  personal  influ- 
ence in  the  formation  of  character  by  appealing  to  the  whole  soul. 
Such,  at  any  rate,  has  been  the  direction  in  which  our  efforts  have 
been  aimed.  The  pupils  of  our  classes  are  also  members  of  our 
clubs  and  share  with  us  the  responsibilities  as  well  as  the  privi- 
leges of  our  home.  The  principal  and  the  instructors,  who  have 
been  selected  from  among  the  teachers  of  the  various  universities, 
colleges,  and  public  schools  of  the  city,  all  give  theix  services  gratis, 
and  this  enables  them  to  exert  a  far  greater  personal  influence 
than  the  ordinary  paid  instructor.^  In  this  they  reenforce  the 
work  of  our  club  leaders. 

The  practical  neighborhood  work,  which  was  begun 
in  the  early  part  of  1900  by  the  young  men's  club,^  has 
been  continued  on  a  larger  and  more  effective  scale.    In 

1  With  the  growth  of  the  educational  activities  of  the  Thomas 
Davidson  Society,  continually  increasing  demands  have  been  made 
on  the  time  of  the  principal  in  charge  of  this  branch  of  the  work, 
upon  whom  devolves  all  clerical  labor  connected  therewith,  and,  since 
the  fall  of  1903,  he  has  received  a  salary  of  six  hundred  dollars  per 
annum.  2  gee  pp.  121  seq. 


THE  VITALITY  OF  THE  IDEAL  227 

this  the  members  have  had  the  advantage  of  working 
among  their  own  people.  The  method  and  results  of 
work  of  this  sort  are  not  of  the  kind  of  which  public  re- 
port can  easily  be  made.  Suffice  it  to  mention  that  many 
young  men  and  women,  of  the  neighborhood  have  been 
stimulated  to  take  an  interest  in  higher  things  through 
the  personal  efforts  of  the  members  of  the  Thomas  David- 
son Society.  The  following  extract  from  the  Annual 
Report  of  the  United  Hebrew  Charities,  October,  1902, 
will  illustrate  the  nature  of  some  of  this  work : 

The  experiment  was  tried  during  the  past  year  of  interesting 
the  young  men  and  women  of  the  Thomas  Davidson  Society  in  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  our  applicants,  and  through  them  influ- 
encing the  general  family  conditions.  The  plan  was  attractive 
because  the  club  members,  earnest  young  men  and  women,  and 
possessed  of  more  than  ordinary  intelligence  and  education,  were, 
nevertheless,  in  many  instances  living  in  the  same  neighborhood, 
and  were  part  of  the  same  social  atmosphere  as  our  applicants, 
and  for  this  reason  better  able  to  judge  of  their  needs  and  abilities. 
These  visitors  made  no  mention  of  the  fact  that  they  were  con- 
nected with  our  society.  They  gave  no  relief.  Their  entire  aim 
was  to  establish  a  sense  of  comradeship  with  the  young  men  and 
women  assigned  to  them,  and  then,  indirectly  and  without  the 
beneficiaries'  consciousness,  to  interest  them  in  educational  and 
other  pursuits;  to  help  them  obtain  employment  if  necessary;  to 
elevate  the  parents  through  the  children ;  and  in  general  to  bring 
a  wider  horizon  into  lives  that  are  of  necessity  sordid  and  narrow. 
While  the  experiment  is  novel  and  only  in  its  infancy,  it  has 
demonstrated  its  feasibility  and  efficacy,  and  warrants  the  belief 
that  a  concerted  effort  should  be  made  to  interest  similar  organi- 
zations in  our  work. 

A  Davidson  memorial  meeting  is  held  every  year  in 
October.     At  these  meetings  the  members  and  their 


228        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

friends  recall  the  sterling  and  inspiring  qualities  of 
Thomas  Davidson,  and  the  views  for  which  he  stood. 
Annual  meetings  in  celebration  of  the  founding  of  the 
class  are  held  in  January,  and  have  a  similar  object. 
These  meetings  have  proved  pf  great  value  to  the 
members.  The  sentiment  of  the  class  was  voiced  in 
the  Third  Annual  Report  of  the  chairman  of  the  exec- 
utive committee. 

Our  colleges  teach  science  and  cultivate  scholarship,  but  they 
do  not  create  any  large  ideal  or  enthusiasm  in  the  student's  soul. 
They  leave  that  to  the  church.  The  church  does  aim  to  build  up 
a  high  ideal  in  the  souls  of  its  members,  but  unfortunately  it  is  an 
ideal  which  has  but  little  influence  on  the  actual  course  of  life ; 
chiefly  because  it  is  often  based  on  a  supernatural  view  of  the 
world  that  is  no  longer  tenable.  Our  own  little  society  aims  to 
combine  the  advantages  of  the  college  and  the  church  with  those 
of  the  home.  We  form  a  school  in  so  far  as  we  help  one  another 
to  master  the  world's  wisdom  and  learning ;  a  church  in  so  far  as 
we  encourage  one  another  to  form  and  to  live  up  to  the  highest 
ideals  and  to  stand  by  one  another  in  the  hour  of  spiritual  need ; 
and  we  form  a  home  in  so  far  as  we  try  to  cultivate  among  our- 
selves those  deeper  cordial  relations  which,  unfortunately,  are  sel- 
dom found  outside  of  the  home.  In  Mr.  Davidson's  later  writings 
the  idea  of  a  Breadwinners'  College  is  predominant.  But  those 
who  knew  him  more  intimately  know  that  deeper  than  the  idea 
of  instruction  or  mere  culture  for  the  breadwinners  was  the  idea 
of  "  a  society  with  ideal  relations  and  aims  " ;  a  society  of  indi- 
viduals banded  together  in  order  to  help  one  another  to  realize 
the  highest  life;  a  society  of  apostles  who  will  spread  love  and 
righteousness  by  deed  as  well  as  by  word. 

What  have  we  done  to  realize  this,  our  real  end  ? 

It  is  difficult  to  answer  this  question  because  it  is  difficult  to 
measure  moral  elevation.  And  it  is  more  difficult  for  a  member 
of  our  society  to  give  this  judgment,  for  he  cannot  impartially 


THE  VITALITY  OF  THE  IDEAL  229 

observe  the  progress  it  has  made.  But  those  who  have  known 
many  of  our  members  before  they  joined  our  society  must  admit 
that  its  high  moral  standard  has  had  a  wonderful  effect  in  raising 
and  chastening  the  characters  of  our  members,  and  of  aU  those 
who  came  in  contact  with  our  work.  This  has  been  accomplished 
through  adherence  to  Thomas  Davidson's  ideal  of  altruistic  social 
service.  Our  society  offers  no  advantage  to  members  except  the 
opportunity  of  self-sacrificing  work  for  others  —  not  in  the  form 
of  material  assistance,  which  often  pauperizes,  but  in  the  form  of 
friendly  aid,  which  helps  to  make  possible  the  higher  life  of  plain 
living  and  high  thinking. 

The  work  of  the  Thomas  Davidson  Society  naturally 
falls  in  two  divisions :  the  first  including  the  systematic 
instruction  offered  in  the  Thomas  Davidson  Schools, 
the  second  including  the  practical  or  communal  work  of 
its  members.  The  following  Summary  gives  a  fair  idea 
of  its  various  activities  at  the  present  time. 

L  THE  THOMAS  DAVIDSON  SCHOOLS 

1.  The  Elementary  Course,  The  elementary  course 
now  comprises  classes  in  English  (language,  grammar, 
and  composition),  arithmetic,  geography,  and  United 
States  history.  English  takes  up  four  hours  per  week, 
arithmetic  two,  the  other  subjects  one  each.  There  are 
two  grades,  A  and  B,  so  that  the  whole  course  is  a  two- 
year  one.  The  total  enrollment  in  these  classes  during 
the  past  year  was  two  hundred. 

An  examination  of  the  record  of  attendance  would 
show  some  decline  as  the  year  advanced.  This,  how- 
ever, is  no  indication  of  any  dissatisfaction  on  the  part 
of  the  pupils.    Many  of  those  who  have  ceased  to  attend 


230         EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

the  classes  have  moved  away  from  the  district ;  others 
are  still  members  of  the  various  clubs,  but  their  daily 
work  does  not  allow  them  to  spend  very  much  time  in 
study.  When  a  pupil  has  to  work  overtime  for  several 
weeks  in  his  daily  occupation  he  frequently  finds  it  im- 
possible to  keep  up  with  the  work  of  his  class  and  drops 
out.  Still  the  attendance  at  these  classes  has  been  bet- 
ter than  at  those  of  any  public  evening  school  in  the 
city  of  New  York. 

2.  The  Academic  or  High  School  Course.  This  work 
was  organized  in  September,  1902,  and  a  curriculum 
adopted  that  was  more  or  less  loosely  patterned  after 
that  of  the  usual  high  school.  As  originally  planned, 
the  classes  were  to  meet  from  eight  to  nine,  and  from 
nine  to  ten  every  evening  in  the  week  except  Saturday 
and  Sunday.  This  would  have  enabled  any  pupil  who 
could  find  the  time  to  take  all  the  courses,  to  complete 
the  curriculum  in  three  years.  The  first  year's  work, 
however,  showed  that  this  was  expecting  too  much  from 
boys  and  girls  most  of  whom  are  compelled  to  spend 
their  days  in  hard  work.  Accordingly,  this  year,  the 
Friday  evening  classes  have  been  omitted,  and  a  com- 
mittee is  now  engaged  in  changing  the  curriculum  to  a 
four-year  course  with  eight  hours  of  recitations  a  week, 
and  so  arranging  it  that  any  one  who  is  unable  to  find 
time  to  attend  all  the  classes  may,  by  proper  selection, 
complete  the  course  in  a  longer  period  of  time.  On  the 
Friday  evenings  thus  set  free  a  course  of  lectures  on 
practical  ethical  problems  has  been  given  by  the  teachers 
of  the  school  and  by  invited  lecturers.  These  Friday 
evening  meetings  have  also  served  as  general  assemblies 


THE  VITALITY  OF  THE  IDEAL  231 

for  all  of  the  pupils  of  the  school,  and  they  have  proved 
so  successful  that  it  has  been  decided  to  make  them  a 
permanent  feature. 

In  addition  to  the  regular  work  there  are  special 
classes  in  elocution  and  free-hand  drawing  open  to  all 
of  the  pupils.  And  it  is  planned,  if  adequate  quarters 
can  be  secured,  to  add  a  full  manual  training  depart- 
ment, with  courses,  also,  in  domestic  science  for  the 
young  women. 

The  success  of  this  work  during  the  past  two  years 
in  the  face  of  many  almost  insuperable  difficulties  has 
been  most  encouraging.  The  pupils  have  been  keenly 
interested  in  their  studies,  and  have  made  a  very  credit- 
able showing  in  their  examinations.  The  fact  that  the 
school  aims  primarily  at  training  in  citizenship  makes 
its  curriculum  and  its  method  of  instruction  somewhat 
different  from  the  method  and  curriculum  of  the  ordi- 
nary high  school,  which  is  a  college  preparatory.  It  is 
difficult  to  describe  the  difference.  The  whole  plan  is 
still  in  the  experimental  stage.  But  the  following 
points  are  worthy  of  note :  (1)  The  effort  is  continually 
made  to  adapt  the  studies  to  the  actual  life  problems 
which  confront  the  pupils,  and  thus  to  help  them  to 
face  these  problems  with  a  wider  and  saner  outlook 
upon  life.  This  was  particularly  noticeable  in  the  work 
done  in  the  classes  in  history.  So  in  the  class  in  litera- 
ture, "  Silas  Marner,"  for  example,  was  studied  primarily 
from  the  ethical  standpoint.  In  the  physiology  class 
the  work  was  made  to  bear  directly  on  the  hygienic 
conditions  of  the  East  Side  homes,  and  so  on.  (2)  The 
personal  relations  existing  between  teacher  and  pupil 


232        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

are  peculiarly  intimate.  Teachers  frequently  invite 
their  pupils  to  their  homes,  and  in  this  way  a  close  bond 
of  friendship  has  arisen  between  them  and  their  pupils, 
which  gives  them  greater  power  and  greater  opportunity 
for  usefulness,  and  at  the  same  time  brings  to  all  alike 
that  inspiration  without  which  the  work  would  be  alto- 
gether impossible.  (3)  The  work  of  the  school  proper 
is  intimately  connected  with  that  of  the  various  clubs 
presently  to  be  described.  All  the  pupils  are  urged  to 
become  members  of  existing  clubs,  or  to  organize  new 
clubs  of  their  own.  In  this  way  the  bonds  that  connect 
the  school  work  with  the  practical  issues  of  life  are 
further  strengthened,  and  at  the  same  time  the  commu- 
nal work  of  the  society  is  kept  on  a  higher  and  saner 
plane. 

The  pupils  of  the  school  seem  fully  to  appreciate  what 
is  being  done  for  them,  and  are  in  their  turn  resolved  to 
do  their  share  in  carrying  forward  the  work  of  Thomas 
Davidson.  Of  their  own  accord  they  have  organized 
themselves  into  two  clubs  in  order  "to  promote  the 
right  spirit  among  the  pupils  of  the  school,  to  cooper- 
ate with  the  teachers  and  the  principal,  and  to  aid  the 
Thomas  Davidson  Society  in  its  philanthropic  efforts." 
This  resolution  they  have  carried  into  effect,  using  their 
dues  to  buy  stationery  for  the  school,  gladly  giving  their 
services  in  keeping  class  records  and  in  other  forms  of 
clerical  assistance,  etc.  And  many  of  the  more  advanced 
students  have  freely  given  of  their  time  in  tutoring  and 
coaching  others  still  less  favored  than  themselves. 

3.  The  Culture  Classes,  These  classes  form  the  nu- 
cleus which  Mr.  Davidson  hoped  might  some  day  develop 


THE  VITALITY  OF  THE  IDEAL  233 

into  a  Breadwinners'  College.  It  must  be  admitted  that 
during  the  past  few  years  this  department  has  not  made 
as  much  progress  as  the  others.  This  is  partly  owing 
to  the  fact  that  many  of  these  young  men  and  young 
women,  whose  days,  from  earliest  recollection,  have  all 
been  spent  in  hard  and  exacting  toil,  are  not  properly 
prepared  to  take  up  the  subjects  outlined  by  Mr.  David- 
son in  his  essay  on  "  The  Educational  Problems  of  the 
Twentieth  Century."  ^  It  is  also  partly  due  to  the  fact 
that  since  Mr.  Davidson's  death  the  members  of  his 
class  have  been  mainly  thrown  on  their  own  resources, 
and  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that,  however  earnest  and 
otherwise  capable,  they  should  be  able,  with  their  youth 
and  limited  training  and  experience,  to  conduct  work 
along  such  lines.  They  have  therefore  wisely  devoted 
their  energies  mainly  to  the  schools  and  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  club  work.  It  should  be  added,  however, 
that  all  of  this  work  is  conducted  primarily  with  the  aim 
of  preparing  wage-earners  for  the  Breadwinners'  College. 
During  the  past  year  the  original  class  in  social  and 
historic  science  continued  its  Saturday  evening  meet- 
ings and  completed  the  historical  course  outlined  in 
1900,  studying  the  Renaissance  and  the  development  of 
modern  ideals.  The  nucleus  of  this  work  was  a  course 
of  ten  lectures  by  Mr.  David  S.  Muzzey.  The  rest  of 
the  time  was  taken  up  with  the  reading  and  discussion 
of  papers  by  the  members  on  such  topics  as  monasticism, 
the  history  of  the  poor  laws,  the  democratic  ideal  in 
modern  literature,  etc.  For  next  year  two  courses  are 
planned,  for  alternate  Saturday  evenings,  one  on  "Types 
1  See  pp.  76  seq. 


234        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

of  Character  in  Literature  (mainly  Shakespearean),'* 
and  one  on  "The  Social  Problems  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century." 

The  class  in  philosophy  has  continued  its  meetings, 
taking  up  the  study  of  Kant.  In  April  it  decided  to 
meet  fortnightly,  and  another  class  was  started  for  be- 
ginners, following  the  plan  drawn  by  Mr.  Davidson  for 
the  original  class.  The  class  in  the  study  of  the  book 
of  Job,  attended  mainly  by  the  younger  members,  also 
belongs  in  this  group. 

II.  COMMUNAL  ACTIVITIES 

1.  Neighborhood  Work.  As  a  part  of  the  work  of  the 
society  we  may  count  the  missionary  work  done  by  its 
members  in  other  institutions.  Thus  a  number  of  them 
founded  the  Eron  Society,  now  the  People's  Culture 
Club,  with  a  membership  of  over  two  hundred.  Some 
of  them  are  leading  clubs  in  other  institutions,  or  doing 
work  in  connection  with  various  civic  bodies,  such  as 
the  East  Side  Civic  Club,  the  Down  Town  Ethical 
Club,  the  Educational  League,  and  other  organizations. 

Mention  should  also  be  made  of  the  "  friendly  visit- 
ing "  done  by  members  of  the  society  in  connection  with 
the  United  Hebrew  Charities.  In  the  nature  of  things 
progress  in  work  of  this  sort  is  very  slow  from  the  point 
of  view  of  obvious  results.  Still  the  efforts  that  the 
Friendly  Visitors  have  made  cannot,  in  the  end,  help 
exerting  a  good  influence.  On  the  East  Side,  as  well 
as  in  a  great  many  other  communities,  there  is  now  tak- 
ing place  a  general  exodus  from  the  churches.    Here  it 


THE  VITALITY  OF  THE  IDEAL  235 

takes  a  very  painful  and  tragic  aspect,  because  it  breaks 
up  the  family  life.  Most  of  the  people  who  have  left 
the  synagogue  are  very  young,  and  as  yet  there  is  noth- 
ing to  take  the  place  of  the  spiritual  influence  which  it 
exerted.  The  various  social  settlements  do  not  seem 
capable  of  doing  it.  The  Thomas  Davidson  Society  has 
been  making  the  effort  to  devote  itself  to  things  spirit- 
ual without  becoming  sectarian,  seeking  to  lay  the 
proper  emphasis  on  the  value  of  the  really  earnest  life. 
2.  The  Junior  Clubs,  The  motive  that  led  to  the 
establishment  of  these  clubs  was  the  desire  of  some  of 
the  members  of  the  original  class  to  pay  a  portion 
of  their  debt  of  gratitude  to  Mr.  Davidson  by  attempt- 
ing, as  far  as  lay  in  their  power,  to  do  for  others  what 
he  had  done  for  them.  These  clubs  are  accordingly 
modeled  after  the  Thomas  Davidson  Society.  They  are 
in  the  main  self-governing  bodies,  the  leaders  serving  in 
the  capacity  of  older  and  more  experienced  friends  as 
well  as  of  teachers.  During  the  week  most  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  clubs  attend  either  the  elementary  or  the  high 
school  classes.  The  special  programmes  of  the  different 
clubs  vary  according  to  the  ability  and  the  interests  of 
the  members.  Thus  one  club  leader,  following  the 
course  taken  by  Mr.  Davidson,  is  making  Henderson's 
"Social  Elements"  the  basis  of  his  work;  another  is 
attempting  to  develop  types  of  heroism,  making  use 
of  Frederic  Harrison's  "New  Calendar  of  Great  Men" ; 
one  club  is  studying  the  various  departments  of  the 
city  government  and  the  social  conditions  of  the  East 
Side ;  another  has  been  specially  interested  in  the  devel- 
opment of  certain  industries ;  and  one,  whose  members 


236        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

have  had  little  schooling,  has  been  studying  Longfel- 
low's poems.  The  girls'  clubs  are  similarly  organized*. 
In  all  of  these  clubs  selected  poems  are  learned  by 
heart  and  recited. 

The  weekly  meeting  is,  however,  by  no  means  the 
most  important  feature  in  the  life  of  these  clubs.  They 
are,  it  must  be  remembered,  primarily  groups  of  friends 
organized  for  mutual  helpfulness.  Problems  of  daily 
life  are  freely  discussed  with  the  club  leader.  It  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  parents  of  most  of  these  boys 
and  girls  are  strangers  in  this  land,  and  their  past  life 
and  Talmudic  creed  make  them  incapable  of  appreciat- 
ing the  peculiar  problems  that  confront  their  own  chil- 
dren. This  circumstance  gives  the  club  leader  peculiar 
power  and -an  exceptional  opportunity.  The  members 
of  the  clubs  are  always  ready  to  aid  one  another  by  all 
means  in  their  power,  giving  assistance  with  the  daily 
lessons,  helping  any  that  may  be  out  of  work  to  find 
employment,  visiting  any  that  are  sick,  and  in  general 
standing  by  one  another  in  the  hour  of  need.  These 
clubs  also  afford  a  great  deal  of  healthful  enjoyment  to 
their  members  in  the  form  of  monthly  entertainments, 
outdoor  games,  and  excursions  to  the  museums  and 
parks  in  and  about  New  York  City.  In  the  summer  of 
1903  the  boys'  clubs  established  a  summer  camp  on 
Staten  Island  in  order  to  afford  those  members  whose 
occupations  deprive  them  of  longer  vacations  the  oppor- 
tunity of  spending  Sundays  and  holidays  away  from  the 
crowded  city. 

These  clubs  have  shown  their  loyalty  to  the  parent 
society  in  their  readiness  to  cooperate  in  its  work.    Thus 


THE  VITALITY  OF  THE  IDEAL  237 

one  of  them  has  given  two  performances  of  "Julius 
Caesar  "  and  turned  over  the  proceeds,  upward  of  one 
hundred  dollars,  to  the  Children's  Friends  Society ;  an- 
other gave  a  theater  benefit  and  used  the  proceeds  to 
establish  the  summer  home,  which  they  afterward 
opened  to  all  the  other  clubs.  Some  of  the  members  of 
the  junior  clubs  have  been  helping  in  the  friendly  visit- 
ing, and  others  have  been  giving  assistance  in  the  chil- 
dren's work.  And,  in  general,  the  spirit  they  have 
shown  gives  evidence  that  the  ranks  of  the  original 
Thomas  Davidson  Society  will  be  kept  recruited  from 
the  membership  of  the  junior  clubs. 

The  work  of  the  Thomas  Davidson  Society  has  been 
carried  on  in  the  past  few  years  in  the  face  of  many 
difficulties,  among  which  the  most  serious  have  been : 

1.  The  lack  of  funds  and,  consequently,  of  proper 
facilities  for  the  work.  Though  some  of  the  members 
have  of  late  been  relatively  successful  from  a  financial 
standpoint,  they  are  not  in  a  position  to  make  any  mate- 
rial contributions  to  the  society,  since,  for  the  most  part, 
they  have  parents  or  others  dependent  on  them.  The 
great  majority  are  young  people  who  are  still  struggling 
to  get  started,  and  some  are  not  yet  financially  inde- 
pendent of  their  parents.  The  Educational  Alliance  has 
been  more  than  generous  in  its  support  of  the  work.  It 
has,  however,  other  interests  to  look  after  that  it  cannot 
sacrifice  for  this  work,  and  a  considerable  independent 
endowment  is  much  to  be  desired.  2.  Lack  of  decent 
rooms.  The  house  that  is  now  occupied  by  the  Thomas 
Davidson   Society  offers   many  obstacles  to  its  work. 


238        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 

The  rooms  are  few  and  small  and  the  ceilingfs  so  low 
that  proper  ventilation  is  impossible.  The  sanitary 
arrangements  are  far  from  perfect.  That  the  society- 
has  been  able  to  continue  its  work  in  spite  of  its 
quarters  is  a  significant  and  encouraging  fact.  3.  Lack 
of  a  leader.  And,  at  the  present  time,  what  the  society 
most  needs  is  a  leader  who  shall  supply,  as  far  as  that 
may  be  possible,  the  place  that  Mr.  Davidson  filled; 
a  wise  leader,  with  a  broad  outlook  upon  life  and  life's 
problems,  who,  with  untiring  zeal  and  self-sacrificing 
devotion,  shall  spend  himself  in  this  work,  and  shall 
guide  and  direct  and  concentrate  the  energies  and  the 
efforts  of  this  band  of  earnest,  truth-seeking  wage- 
earners  that  Mr.  Davidson  gathered  together. 

As  one  looks  back  upon  the  work  of  the  Thomas 
Davidson  Society,  and  particularly  upon  that  which  it 
has  accomplished,  mainly  through  its  own  efforts,  since 
the  death  of  Mr.  Davidson,  one  feels  that  it  is  signifi- 
cant not  so  much  for  the  actual  form  that  the  society's 
activities  have  taken  as,  rather,  for  the  method  of  its 
work  and  the  spirit  in  which  that  work  has  been  done.. 
It  is  this  that  gives  the  movement  its  unique  and  dis- 
tinctive character.  And  this  is  traceable  directly  to 
Mr.  Davidson's  inspiration.  He  worked  from  the  first 
with  and  for  individuals,  and  not  simply  with  a  class, 
and  the  spirit  of  friendly  cooperation  became  contagious ; 
he  made  the  young  men  and  young  women  work  and 
work  hard  for  their  results,  and  in  so  doing  appealed 
continually  to  what  was  most  heroic  and  ideal  in  their 
aspirations.     This  spirit  has  prevailed  in  all  the  work 


THE  VITALITY  OF  THE  IDEAL  239 

that  has  been  done,  and  in  the  case  of  many  members 
of  the  society  the  result  has  been  nothing  less  than  a 
complete  transformation  of  character.  And,  unfinished 
as  the  story  is,  the  work  that  has  been  actually  accom- 
plished speaks  volumes  not  only  for  the  force  of  Mr. 
Davidson's  personality  and,  it  must  in  fairness  be  added, 
for  the  character  of  these  wage-earners  themselves,  but 
also  for  the  vitality  of  the  ideal  that  has  guided  them 
and  him  in  all  that  has  been  done. 


APPENDICES 


241 


APPENDIX  A 


243 


09 


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5I 

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^       5^    ^^^^^^^^          ^       ^ 

Number  of 

Meetings 

during 

Year 

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1 

1 

1 

f  Mondays,  8-9  p.m.  ) 
Wednesdays,  9-10  p.m.    i 

(  Mondays,  8-10  p.m.  } 
Wednesdays,  9-10  p.m.    i 

Tuesdays,  8-10  p.m. 

Tuesdays,  8-10  p.m. 

Wednesdays,  9-10  p.m. 

Wednesdays,  9-10  p.m. 

Thursdays,  8-9  p.m. 

Thursdays,  8-9  p.m. 

Thursdays,  9-10  p.m. 

Thursdays,  9-10  p.m. 

f  Mondays,  8-9  p.m.            ) 
i  Thursdays,  9-10  p.m.       J 

1 

Rose  Tannenbaum 

Jacob  Greenberg 

Margaret  Fireman 
Mary  Ryshpan 
Bernard  Levine 
Louis  Weinberg 
Minnie  Masiroff 
Frances  Shostac 
Ab.  Kantrowitz 
Frances  Shostac 

Simon  Hirshdansky 
Joseph  Kahn 

i 

5 

A.  The  Elementary  School 
Arithmetic  (Elementary) 

"         (Advanced) 

English  (Elementary) 

"      (Advanced) 
Grammar  (Elementary) 

"          (Advanced) 
Geography  (Elementary) 

"           (Advanced) 
U.  S.  History  (Elementary) 

"               (Advanced) 
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First  Year 
Algebra 

English 

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244        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 


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246        EDUCATION  OF  THE  WAGE-EARNERS 


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APPENDIX  B 


Receipts  and  Expenditures  of  the  Thomas  Davidson  Society 
FOR  THE  Year  ending  June  30,  1904 


Receipts 

From  the  Educational  Alliance        .... 
Dues  of  members  of  Thomas  Davidson  Society 
Dues  of  pupils  of  the  Thomas  Davidson  schools     . 
Voluntary  contributions  of  the  clubs 
Contributions  of  members  and  friends  to  book  fund 
From  Mr.  S.  Fels 

Total 


$2193.48 
297.31 
98..'30 
43.84 
20.15 
37.00 

$2690.08 


Expenditures 

Rent 

Coal  and  gas      .... 
Furniture,  fixtures,  and  repairs 
Janitor  service,  cleaning,  etc.  . 
Text-books  and  reference  books 
Printing  and  stationery 
Postage 
Piano  rental 
For  social  meetings,  etc. 
Sundries  and  incidentals 
Salary  of  principal    . 
Expenses  of  lectures 


Total 


$878.32 

238.20 

143.M 

206.13 

331.29 

63.37 

38.36 

47.00 

49.91 

76.00 

500.00 

100.00 

$2671.52 


In  addition,  mention  should  be  made  of  the  fact  that  the  members  of  the 
Thomas  Davidson  Society  and  of  the  Junior  Clubs  raised  among  them- 
selves .S300  for  the  use  of  the  cottage  committee  in  connection  with  the 
society's  summer  camp,  and  $150  for  the  use  of  the  Children's  Friends 
Society  in  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  summer  Sunday  outings  for 
children. 


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